This State Disaster Management Plan for the year 2008-09 for the state of West Bengal
has been prepared by the State Disaster Management Authority under the DM Act, 2005
and under the National Disaster Management Guidelines prepared by NDMA, GOI in July,
2007.
Different parts of West Bengal are vulnerable to the natural calamities like Flood,
Cyclonic Storms, viz., cyclone – hailstorm - kalbaishakhi, Earthquake, Landslide,
Drought and Embankment Erosion. In fact there are multiple High Risk Multi Hazard
Zones. Apart from these natural hazards there are chances of man-made disasters
like major fire, industrial accidents, terrorist attacks etc.
West Bengal has 19 Districts covering 65 Sub-divisions, 341 Blocks, 333 Panchayat
Samities, 126 Municipalities, 3354 Gram Panchayats, 40782 Mauzas, 37945 inhabited
villages, 375 towns and 463 Police Stations (includes 42 G.R.P. for Sealdah, Howrah
and Siliguri). The total area of the state is 88,752 sq Km having a dense population
of more than 80 million people of which about 72% live in the Rural areas covering
85427.26 sq Km, i.e., 96% of the total geographical area and the population density
is 903 per square kilometer.
This plan is being formulated in the context of both natural and man-made disasters
to tackle the multi-hazard vulnerabilities and is based on the factors like ever-growing
population, the vast disparities of income, rapid urbanization, increasing industrialization,
development within high risk zones, environmental degradation, climate change, state
and national security, economy and sustainable development.
The objective of the State Disaster Management Plan, West Bengal is to facilitate
execution of activities for prevention and preparedness, operations, coordination,
and community awareness and involvement.
Download the Detail State DM Plan Here
.