UPSC Mains 2026 GS3 Q18: model answer

In most disasters the first rescuers are neighbours, not the NDRF. The Sendai Framework and the Disaster Management Act, 2005 treat communities as partners in preparedness, response and recovery.

Indian evidence

• Odisha: village volunteers, locally run shelters and drills evacuated over a million before Phailin (2013) and Fani (2019), with few deaths compared with 1999.
• Tsunami Ready: UNESCO recognised Venkatraipur and Noliasahi (2020).
• Kerala 2018: fishermen's boats rescued thousands.
• Aapda Mitra volunteers in flood-prone districts.
• Owner-driven rebuilding after Bhuj (2001) beat contractor colonies.

Not enough alone: communities cannot build embankments or run warning satellites. Participation complements state capacity.

Challenges: top-down district plans; migration leaving the elderly and women exposed; caste and gender bias in relief; volunteer fatigue; warnings not in local languages.

Measures

• Village plans approved in gram sabhas, funded via the 15th Finance Commission's mitigation window.
• Training and insurance for Aapda Mitras; NCC, NSS networks.
• Women's SHGs running shelters and relief.
• Local-language mobile alerts via the Common Alerting Protocol.
• School drills.

Odisha's own numbers make the point: about 10,000 deaths in the 1999 super cyclone, and a few dozen in Fani twenty years later, with the same coastline and a trained village network in between.

The statement holds if 'cornerstone' means foundation, not the whole building.