Disaster risk financing has space to evolve as new options emerge

Successive Finance Commissions have aided the cause but India's vulnerabilities have also grown

- SHISHIR AGARWAL is a senior consultant at the National Disaster Management Authority

It often begins with a tremor underfoot. Or the rising howl of wind over the coastline. Or the dull, ceaseless drum of rain on rooftops that quickly evokes panic once streets begin to fill. Disasters don't arrive with subtlety. They crash into lives, homes, cities and the economy with devastating regularity. In just the past five years, India has been battered by cyclones like Amphan and Tauktae, floods in Bengaluru, Assam and Chennai, landslides in Wayanad and erratic monsoons. The price tag? Assessed to be upwards of a staggering ₹50,000 crore annually in economic losses.

And yet, when the waters recede and the headlines fade, a quiet cost must be borne: ex-post funding from public coffers and debt to patch things up. Past Finance Commissions addressed these by providing nuanced funding for pre-disaster activities aimed at reducing the risk and intensity of future disasters.

The model of 'spend after loss' was not only inefficient but unsustainable for our developmental aspirations. While enormous strides have been made in risk assessment, early warning, mitigation and preparedness to reduce fatalities and infrastructure damage, a lot more remains to be done.