Tag: hazards

A. Due to its geological set up.

India, due to its, physio-graphic and climatic conditions is one of the most disaster prone areas of the world. It is vulnerable to windstorms from both the Arabian Seaand Bay of Bengal. There are active crustal movements in the Himalaya leading to earthquakes. About 58.7 % of the toatal land mass is prone to earthquake of moderate to very high intensity. Floods brought about by heavy rain and drought in arid and semi arid areas. About 12 % of the o f the total land mass is flood prone and 68 % of the arable land is vulnerable to drought. The Western region of the country is represented by the Thar Desert and the central India by the Deccan Plateau face recurring droughts due to acute shortage of rainfall. India has increasingly become vulnerable to Tsunamis since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. India has a coastline running 7600 km long.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR) was finally agreed on 18th March 2015 in Sendai, Japan. The Sendai Framework is sharpening focus on the vital role that ecosystems play in reducing disaster risk, particularly in shared river basins, wetlands and coastal areas.

Ecosystems such as forests can act as buffers against natural hazards, notably flooding. One of the most telling examples comes from the Caribbean, where Haiti’s forest cover is just 3.8 percent while its much greener island neighbor the Dominican Republic boasts 40.8 percent.