Role of Urban Local Bodies in Disaster Management

ROLE OF URBAN LOCAL LOCAL BODIES IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Urban local bodies refers to governance of an urban area by the people through their elected representatives. The tenure of urban local self-governing bodies is fixed at five years. Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) play a very important role in planning and development of urban areas. Urban local bodies form an important stakeholder at the town level. Urban Local Bodies are classified into four major categories

1. Municipal corporation
2. Municipality
3. Town area committee and
4. Notified area committee

 Urban Local Bodies are not well equipped both administratively and financially to mitigate any natural or man-made hazard. They require help from the state government to deal with any hazard. Urban Local Bodies have the highest stake in disaster mitigation but have the least power in administrative hierarchy.  In December 2005, the prime minister launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) to provide assistance to state governments and Urban Local Bodies. ULB's perform analysis of the city's susceptibility to floods, earthquakes and other disasters.

The role of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in disaster management is to-

1. develop, review and assess effective disaster management practices
2. help local goverment to prepare a local disaster management plan and
3. ensure the community knows how to respond in a disaster.