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The purpose of the paper is to persuade all partners in disaster management to take action and create a pair of synergistic and invincible forces – government and people – that interact to bring about a reduction in the impact of natural hazards in Uttaranchal, India.

There is an urgent need for a comprehensive tool to make the community aware of its right to safety. Today, policies and planning for disaster management are a State subject, in which the participation of the community is negligible. Therefore, disaster management has become supply‐driven instead of demand‐driven.

A Citizen's Charter of Disaster Management is considered to be another appropriate tool to bring in citizen‐centric governance. The Charter aspires to meet the present and anticipated needs of citizens in an efficient manner by eradicating errors and wastage through a scientific approach with participation between government and citizens.

The analysis is based on the experience gained over a period of seven years (1999‐2005). The period is short for developing any hypothesis, but sufficient care has been taken to consider vital factors.

With the help of the Citizen's Charter of Disaster Management, the quality of public services can be improved. To make society safer it is required that people should know the mandate of the Department of Disaster Management concerned, how one can get in touch with its officials, what to expect by way of services, and how to seek a remedy if something goes wrong.

The Citizen's Charter of Disaster Management does not by itself create new legal rights, but it certainly helps in enforcing existing rights.

The purpose of this paper is to show that Uttaranchal is a hilly State, recently constituted in the Himalayan region. Over 80 percent of Uttaranchal state is prone to slope instability because of weak and highly folded and fractured rocks, steep slopes, high seismicity and unfavorable hydro‐geological conditions. In addition to this, unsystematic development construction activities contribute to the problem. Newly formed Uttaranchal state is in the process of development, required to expand the existing infrastructure.

The paper gives a full description: Bending of rock beds, their disjointing, disruption and drag‐folding are characteristic features of a creeping mass. Tilted trees and poles are indicative of creep movement as seen on a number of hillslopes in and around Nainital town. The curvature of the tree trunks bears record to the rate of creep during the period of growth of the tree. It hardly needs stating that the rate of creep movement is quicker during the rainy season, and there may be long periods stretching over years when no movement at all takes place. The temporal span of this phenomenon stretches over thousands of years. The rate is accelerated by clear‐felling in forests and by construction on steeper slopes. The depth of the creep movement is variable, and depends largely on the nature and degree of weathering of rocks, the sub‐surface structure and amount of water present within.

It was found that, to meet the requirement, construction activities are in full pace, which have given rise to the new landslide problems or have aggravated the existing slope instability problems. In order to keep the landslide problems to a minimum, systematic studies are required on every aspect of the slope instability problems.

On the basis of slope instability evidence, past occurrence of landslides, deformation of civil structures and geological conditions, three zones have been identified – safe, moderately safe, and very unsafe.

The paper describes the natural problems with which Uttaranchal is faced and proposes systematic studies which are required to deal with every aspect of the outstanding problems of slope instability.

This paper proposes to study institutional financial arrangements in India at national, state and district levels for providing relief and rehabilitation to the affected persons during natural hazards.

India's location and geographical features render it vulnerable to a number of natural hazards such as cyclone, drought, floods, earthquakes, landslides etc. The Government and people have learned a lot of lessons from the past experiences and have developed a financial system to provide relief to affected persons during/after natural disasters.

For seeking assistance from National Fund for Calamity Relief (NFCR), the concerned State Government is required to send a memorandum, indicating in detail the sectorwise damage, requirements of funds from NFCR etc. Lack of information, in most of the cases, leads to delay in processing the requests of the State Government.

The study is based on the data/information collected for the last ten years (1995‐2005). The period is short for developing any hypothesis but sufficient care has been taken to consider vital factors.

A calamity of rare severity requires a high level of relief assistance from the State. Sound financial mechanism helps the Government to tackle the problem immediately and efficiently.

The study highlights shortcomings in the financial mechanism for relief in India and suggests steps to overcome them.

The purpose of this paper is to devise Uttaranchal's disaster management mechanism for reduction of effects of disaster, i.e. damage to property and loss of life and the rapid and effective rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the victims.

Uttaranchal's location and geographical features render it vulnerable to minor changes. Hence any activity disapproved by mountain ecosystem triggers a disaster. One cannot stop disaster happening but can certainly take some steps to reduce its effects. If disasters cannot be averted, then reduction of losses of any type caused by disaster becomes a focal point of the policy for disaster management.

The study reveals that 83 villages in Uttaranchal need rehabilitation but, to date, Uttaranchal has no resettlement and rehabilitation policy. In India only three States, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, have state‐wide resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policies. Other States have issued Government Orders or Resolutions, sometimes sector‐wide but more often for specific projects.

The study is based on secondary data; however, sufficient care has been taken to consider all important factors while suggesting Rehabilitation Policy for Uttaranchal State.

A disaster of rare severity requires a high level of resettlement and rehabilitation assistance from the State. Sound Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy helps the Government to tackle the problem immediately and efficiently.

The study suggests a Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy for Uttaranchal State.

Disaster management is not merely a subject to be taught in class rooms but a habit to be practiced not only by the individual but by the community as a whole. Participation of each and every component of society in practicing disaster management is the key to success. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

Uttaranchal is a newly created state of India having 80 percent of its geographical area under mountainous terrain. The State is prone to various natural disasters such as earthquake, landslide, flash flood, etc. People and the government have learnt a lot from the past experiences and thus a strategy of community based disaster management is being developed to manage the disasters. The analysis is based on the data/information collected for the last seven years (1999‐2005).

Democracy, by definition, means participation in governance. However, while we have practiced representative democracy for over half a century now we are still far away from a participatory democratic‐mode.

The period under study is short for developing any hypothesis but sufficient care has been taken to consider vital factors.

Community participation in disaster is a common phenomenon in the countries like India. Considering the vast potential of community and putting its participation into practice in different stages of disaster management (prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response and rehabilitation) will certainly help the disaster managers to make a safer society.

Participation in practice is far more complex than in theory. Every sound theory in turn is invariably based on good practice. Practice, good practice, entails intensive and extensive attention to details; the nuts and bolts of it.

Up to now most of the research into disaster has examined scientific aspects of the natural phenomena, statistical and geographic records of their occurrence and social responses to the events. This research aims to focus on the hazard identification and hazard zonation on the basis of their severity and frequency so that management aspects of prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response and relief activities can be mounted by the disaster managers.

Besides compiling the hazard‐ and risk‐related work done by the various research institutions and universities the author has also conducted a similar exercise under GIS environment.

Uttranchal is a state highly prone to disasters. Landslides, forest fires, cloudbursts and flash‐floods are disasters that are seasonal in nature and strike during a certain period of the year with high frequency. Earthquake, however, is the most devastating disaster in the mountains and its unpredictable nature adds to its fury.

The analysis is based on the limited geographical area and a time bound of 15 years.

Awareness amongst the masses regarding the various disasters that are likely to affect them and their life support strategy is a must for bringing forth voluntary adoption of the safety norms.

Armed with the information about the hazards and their spatial distribution the disaster managers in Uttaranchal may undertake certain preventive and mitigative measures for further strengthening and streamlining the Disaster Management System in the state and pave the way for similar activities in other states of India

Up to now most of the research into flash flood disaster has examined scientific aspects of this natural phenomenon. This paper aims to focus on the flash flood disaster scenario of Uttarakhand, a newly created Himalayan State in India, on the basis of their severity and mechanism so that management efforts can be mounted by the disaster managers.

Besides compiling the hazard‐ and risk‐related work done by the various research institutions and universities the paper attempts to understand the mechanism responsible for this natural hazard.

Uttrakhand is a state highly prone to disasters. Flash floods are disasters that are seasonal in nature and strike during a certain period of the year in certain pockets of the state with high frequency.

The analysis is based on observations made in the entire state.

Awareness amongst the masses regarding the flash flood disaster that is likely to affect them and their life support strategy is a must for bringing forth voluntary adoption of the safety norms.

Armed with the information about the hazards and their spatial distribution, the disaster managers in Uttarakhand may undertake certain preventive and mitigative measures for further strengthening and streamlining the Disaster Management System in the state and pave the way for similar activities in other states of India.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a simple and convenient method for the landslides study.

This study is based upon the individual case study of three past landslides which may probably prove fatal in the near future. It is useful for the measurement of the horizontal length, longitudinal length, altitude at different points and area of the landslide. These measurements are very helpful in calculating the valley side gradient, longitudinal gradient of the landslide scarp and the volume of the debris generated due to mass movement.

Reactivation of slope instability problems were found along these landslides spots, which will create havoc for the people and a problem for the administration in the near future.

The implication in the paper is that structural and non‐structural mitigation and management strategies are needed.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate landslide hazard problems in Hanuman Chatti area of Uttarakhand, India. Every year NH 58 experiences landslide activities, which disrupts the tourist traffic to Badrinath shrine and higher Himalaya.

An urgent need is being felt to have a comprehensive landslide hazard evaluation factor (LHEF). The major causative factors that influence the slope stability are lithology, structure, soil depth, soil texture, geomorphology, slope morphology, slope dip, slope aspect, slope magnitude, weathering, land use and land cover and anthropogenic activities. The present analysis is based on the rating scheme in which numerical ratings for different categories are determined on the basis of their estimated significance in causing instability.

In the study area, nine old landslides (0.238 sq.km) and five new landslides (0.086 sq.km) are recorded. On the basis of the various causative factors the study area is classified into five landslide hazard classes.

The analysis is based on the experience gained for the last seven years (1999‐2007). The period is short for developing any hypothesis but sufficient care has been taken to consider vital factors.

With the help of LHEF appropriate landslide hazard management tools can be adopted. Once a LHEF rating scheme in which numerical ratings for different categories are determined on the basis of their estimated significance in causing instability, is standardized it can be applied to the entire Himalayan region, which is very prone to landslide hazard.

Although the paper is an attempt to evaluate the efficacy of landslide hazard zonation techniques developed by various agencies in the past, some modification as per the requirement has been made in various stages of investigation.

The purpose of this paper is to present observations on the National Human Rights Commission report on the emergency medical services (EMS) with special reference to Uttaranchal, India.

The paper presents observations of road accidents in Uttaranchal between 2002 and 2003.

Some of the major causes of medical emergencies are road accidents, fall, burns, poisoning, drowning, suicides and attempted suicides and violence of various types. Along with this, natural disasters are a major medical emergency care. According to an estimate there is one accident in every two minutes in India. For every trauma related death, there are many injured and disabled persons. The male age group of 15‐40 years is the most affected by trauma. The cost of trauma is terms of direct costs and loss in terms of productive life is astronomical. The sudden increase in the length, breadth and kinds of roads and an exponential growth in the number and quality of transports and commuters is going to need an extremely well co‐ordinated response system. This by the very complexity of the task involved will have to be a multidisciplinary agency under a unified command. As Uttaranchal enters the fifth year of its existence the various components which would tend to aggravate the existing situation are only too apparent. Connectivity of habitats through road construction, already a top priority activity, is going to be intensified further. Exponential growth in several services sector, all leading to tremendous pressure on the existing roads and infrastructure, resulting in accidents.

The paper presents a road map for the establishment of EMS.