Disaster

Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday told the Lok Sabha that approval for central grants is one thing and applying for the amount by the states is another thing as she mentioned that Kerala did not avail Rs 311.95 crore as part of national disaster mitigation fund. The minister was responding to supplementaries during the Question Hour on the arrears of grants and amounts pending from the central government towards Kerala. Sitharaman, who is in charge of the finance and corporate affairs ministries, said a state has to provide the utilisation certificate so that the next round of funds can be released. For instance, she said there was a specific case related to Kerala where despite the allocation, the Kerala government has not even drawn the amount. An amount of Rs 311.95 for the National Disaster Mitigation Fund that includes Rs 72 crore for risk mitigation project in the landslide-affected territories of Wayanad. Another Rs 17.73 crore was approved for forest fire mitigat

The Centre has approved Rs 1,912.99 crore in additional financial assistance to five states and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir affected by floods, flash floods, cloudbursts, landslides and cyclone 'Montha' in 2025, an official statement said on Friday. The decision was taken by a high-level committee (HLC) chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, it said. According to the statement, the five states are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Nagaland. "Of the total amount, Rs 341.48 crore has been approved for Andhra Pradesh, Rs 15.70 crore for Chhattisgarh, Rs 778.67 crore for Gujarat, Rs 288.39 crore for Himachal Pradesh, Rs 158.41 crore for Nagaland and Rs 330.34 crore for Jammu and Kashmir," it said. This assistance is over and above the funds already released to states under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), it said. During the Financial Year 2025-26, the Centre has released Rs 20,735 crore to 28 states under the SDRF and Rs 3,628.18 cro

The first Bailey Bridge built with India's assistance package to Sri Lanka was opened for traffic in the cyclone-hit island nation on Sunday. The Indian mission here said that the 100-ft Bailey bridge was constructed by the Indian Army, restoring a vital road link between the Central Province and Uva Province. "Restoring connectivity - the first Bailey Bridge under Indian Assistance Package for Post-Ditwah Reconstruction opened for traffic," the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka said in a post on X. The bridge was inaugurated by the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha, along with Deputy Minister of Transport Prasanna Gunasena and Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Madhura Senevirathne. It was built under a USD 450 million reconstruction package by India to Sri Lanka, which was hit by Cyclone Ditwah in November, causing widespread flooding and landslides, resulting in over 600 deaths. The package was announced during External Affairs Minister S ...

Arunachal Pradesh found itself navigating a series of challenges in 2025, ranging from a diplomatic row involving an Arunachalee woman's harassment at Shanghai airport and protests over a power project to natural disasters, underscoring the resilience of the country's easternmost frontier state. The year also witnessed the NDA's dominance in the political sphere with the BJP winning a majority of zilla parishad and gram panchayat constituencies and emerging victorious in civic elections. The BJP bagged 170 out of 245 zilla parishad member (ZPM) seats, including 59 uncontested ones, establishing its clear dominance at the district level. The party won 14 of the 20 wards in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation elections, while it got two wards, and its partner Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA) secured five in the Pasighat Municipal Council. The opposition Congress failed to open its account in both civic bodies. The year's most-talked-about episode was the ordeal of Pema Wangjom Thongdo

The government issued an appeal for international help and asked Sri Lankans abroad to make cash donations to support nearly half a million affected people

India ranks ninth globally among countries most impacted by climate disasters over the past three decades, with nearly 430 extreme weather events killing more than 80,000 people, according to a new report. The Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2026 released by the environment think tank Germanwatch at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, on Tuesday said climate disasters affected 1.3 billion people and caused economic losses worth almost USD 170 billion from 1995 to 2024. The report said the country's losses stemmed largely from repeated floods, cyclones, droughts and heat waves that have intensified with global warming. Events such as the 1998 Gujarat cyclone, the 1999 Odisha super cyclone, the 2013 Uttarakhand floods and recent deadly heat waves are among those that contributed to India's high ranking on the index, it said. The report said India's situation represents a "continuous threat" rather than isolated disasters, as recurring weather extremes have steadily eroded development gains and undermin

Global tech firm Brightcom on Friday announced a collaboration with US-based humanitarian organization Project DYNAMO to integrate defence-grade AI systems for advancing disaster preparedness. The partnership aims to leverage Brightcom's command and decision-support platforms to enhance crisis response, evacuation coordination, and disaster recovery operations globally, the company said in a regulatory filing. Project DYNAMO is known for high-risk evacuations from conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Israel, will contribute its operational expertise and field-tested methods. These will be integrated into Brightcom's AI-driven workflows for situational awareness, communications, and mission planning. "Partnering with Brightcom lets us scale our methods globally with AI-driven coordination, so responders can move from chaos to clarity in minutes, not hours," Mario A Duarte, CEO of Project DYNAMO, said. The collaboration is positioned in line with the priorities set by th

At least 91 students remain trapped in concrete rubble almost two days after an Islamic school building collapsed on them, authorities said after reviewing attendance records and reports from anxious families of those missing. More than 300 rescue workers desperately worked to free survivors Wednesday morning, after the structure fell on top of hundreds of people, mostly teen boys, who had been performing afternoon prayers Monday in a prayer hall at a century-old al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in East Java province that was undergoing an unauthorised expansion. At least three students have been confirmed dead and 100 others were injured. The National Disaster Management Agency revised the number of people presumed buried in the rubble to 91 late Tuesday from the previous 38.

PM Modi will also visit Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, where he will host the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Navinchandra Ramgoolam

The Chief Minister has announced the formation of a three-member committee for rehabilitation, overall revival, and strengthening of sustainable livelihood of the villagers affected by the disaster

Mandi remains the worst-affected district, with 318 roads blocked due to heavy rainfall and landslides, including three key national highways (NH-21, NH-003, and NH-154)

Floods that damaged hydropower dams in Nepal and destroyed the main bridge connecting the country to China show the vulnerability of infrastructure and need for smart rebuilding in a region bearing the brunt of a warming planet, experts say. The flooding of the Bhotekoshi River on July 8 also killed nine people and damaged an inland container depot that was being built to support increasing trade between the two countries. The 10 damaged hydropower facilities, including three under construction, have a combined capacity that could power 600,000 South Asian homes. Another smaller flood in the area on July 30 damaged roads and structures, but caused less overall destruction. Nepal's location in the Himalayan mountains makes it especially vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and landslides because the area is warming up faster than the rest of the world due to human-caused climate change. Climate experts say the increasing frequency of extreme weather has changed the playbook for assessin

The Centre on Wednesday constituted the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by the cabinet secretary, for dealing with any situation of major disaster having national ramifications. In a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said exercising the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 8A of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (53 of 2005), the central government constituted the NCMC. While the cabinet secretary will be the chairperson, Union home secretary, defence secretary, secretary (co-ordination), cabinet secretariat and member and head of department, the National Disaster Management Authority, will be the members of the committee. The committee shall be the apex body for dealing with the situation arising out of a major disaster, which has national ramifications, the notification said. The chairperson of the NCMC may co-opt any expert or any officer either from the central government or the state government or any organisation, depending on the

India has "always stood" by its partners in the region as the first responder in times of crisis, and the BIMSTEC disaster management exercise further strengthened cooperation in the Bay of Bengal region towards disaster preparedness, response and resilience, the MEA said on Wednesday. India hosted the 4th BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise virtually on July 14-15. The exercise organised by the National Disaster Management Authority, as a tabletop exercise, witnessed the participation of disaster management professionals from BIMSTEC Member States to assess and enhance regional preparedness for cyclones and floods. "The participants presented details of national disaster management architectures, engaged in simulated scenarios, evaluated response frameworks and shared best practices to strengthen coordination for disaster response across the region," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. "India has always stood by its partners in the region as the first ...

The death toll in the collapse of a bridge over a river in Gujarat's Vadodara district has gone up to 13 with the recovery of two more bodies, officials said on Thursday. Several vehicles plunged into the Mahisagar river after a portion of the four-decade-old bridge collapsed near Gambhira village close to Padra town on Wednesday morning, "With the recovery of two more bodies from the river on Wednesday night, the death toll in the bridge collapse incident has reached 13. Five persons, who were injured in the incident, are currently undergoing treatment at a hospital," Vadodara district Superintendent of Police Rohan Anand said. The two victims, whose bodies were found at night, have been identified as Mehram Hathiya (51) and Vishnu Raval (27). A slab of the Gambhira-Mujpur bridge, which connects central Gujarat to the Saurashtra region of the state, collapsed at around 7 am on Wednesday, as per officials. This caused the vehicles passing through the bridge to plunge into the ...

Rescuers on Thursday were searching for 43 people missing in rough seas overnight after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near Indonesia's resort island of Bali. The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank almost half an hour after leaving East Java's Ketapang port late Wednesday, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement. It was bound for Bali's Gilimanuk port, a 50-kilometre trip. The ferry carried 53 passengers, 12 crew members and 22 vehicles, including 14 trucks, it said. Two bodies have been recovered and 20 were rescued, many of them unconscious after drifting in choppy waters for hours, said Banyuwangi police chief Rama Samtama Putra. Nine boats, including two tug boats and two inflatable boats have been searching for the missing people since Wednesday night, battling waves up to 2 metres (6.5 feet) high in the overnight darkness. Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferries are often used as transport and safety ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday outlined five key global priorities for him to build disaster-resilient infrastructure, including a skilled workforce, a global digital repository to document best practices and innovative financing. In a video address to the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure 2025, Modi said strengthening early-warning systems and coordination is another crucial aspect. He noted that India has established a tsunami-warning system benefitting 29 countries and that it recognises the Small Island Developing States (SIDA) as large-ocean countries and the need for special attention to their vulnerabilities. With the event being hosted in Europe for the first time, Modi thanked French President Emmanuel Macron and extended his best wishes to him for the upcoming United Nations Oceans Conference. In his remarks, he prime minister noted that the conference's theme is "Shaping a Resilient Future for Coastal Regions" and underscored the ...

In this backdrop, it is an opportune moment to look at the quantum of aid provided by India to different countries

A wireless flying robot inspired by bumblebees, another that mimics jumping insects, and one that can go beneath collapsed buildings will help rescue teams

Intensifying its efforts for aiding relief and rescue work in earthquake-hit Myanmar under Operation Brahma', India has dispatched two naval ships to the neighbouring country while a field hospital is slated to be airlifted later on Saturday, the MEA said. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a briefing that two more Indian naval ships would follow under this humanitarian assistance operation. Besides the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) being sent via aircraft, a field hospital with 118 members from Agra is expected to leave later on Saturday, he said. Personnel of the federal disaster contingency force are being deployed under Operation Brahma, with quake rescue equipment such as strong concrete cutters, drill machines, hammers, plasma cutting machines etc to provide succour to the neighbouring country. Commandant PK Tiwary of the 8th NDRF battalion based in Ghaziabad near Delhi is leading the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team. ND