The State of Delhi has been prone to various disasters both natural as well as manmade. The Government of NCT of Delhi recognized the need to have a proactive, comprehensive and sustained approach to disaster management to reduce the detrimental effects of disasters on overall socio-economic development of the State. Further, on a day-to-day basis, Delhi is at risk to numerous hazards, such as earthquake, flood, bomb-blasts, other acts of terrorism, fires, industrial and nuclear, biological & chemical hazards, flash floods, building collapses, road accidents, water logging, etc.

The peculiar setback of Delhi in creating a well co-ordinated and integrated disaster management system has been its traditionally nurtured multiplicity of command, control and co-ordination structures with its myriad institutions, though the consciousness on the need for disaster management has been accepted for long within the government. Hence, an effective and practicable framework for disaster management in Delhi is urgently needed. The framework must provide for institutional structures for unified command, control and co-ordination, with legal sanctity and the ability to achieve the disaster management needs of Delhi (systems that define the roles and responsibilities of each part of government and of institutions, techno-legal regime, awareness generation, capacity building, disaster management plans at all levels, specialized teams, an Incident Command System, etc.) in the broader framework of development