The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is a specialized force in India, tasked with the responsibility of responding to natural and man-made disasters. It operates under the National Disaster Management Authority of Ministry of Home Affairs and was established in 2006 with the aim of strengthening disaster management capabilities in the country
The responsibility of managing disasters in India is that of the state governments. The ‘Nodal Ministry’ in the central government for management of natural disasters is the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The force also helps in coordinating the response to a disaster that has occurred and that overwhelms the resources of state authorities.
The NDRF is led by a Director General and also has several Inspector Generals (IG) and Deputy IGs, who are flag officers and wear badges of rank.
Directors General
The head of the National Disaster Response Force is the Director General who is an Indian Police Service officer with the rank of an Additional Director General of Police. The first holder was R. K. Bhatia who served between 2009-2010. The current director general is Piyush Anand who has been in office since 1 April 2024.
#NameFromToTenureRemarks 1 R. K. Bhatia, IPS (BH:1974) 6 February 2009 13 May 2010 transferred as DG, ITBP 2 Rajiv, IPS (UP:1975) 14 May 2010 7 February 2012 transferred as DG, CISF 3 Prakash Mishra, IPS (OR:1977) 5 March 2012 4 July 2012 transferred as DGP, Odisha 4 Dr. P. M. Nair, IPS (BH:1978) 24 August 2012 31 May 2013 formerly SDG, CRPF 5 Shri Krishna Chaudhary, IPS (BH:1979) 10 July 2013 27 February 2014 transferred as DG, RPF 6 Mahboob Alam, IPS (TN:1981) 28 February 2014 31 August 2014 formerly ADG, ITBP 7 O. P. Singh, IPS (UP:1983) 1 September 2014 26 September 2016 formerly ADG, CISF; transferred as DG, CISF 8 R. K. Pachnanda, IPS (WB:1983) 26 September 2016 6 July 2017 formerly ADG, CISF; transferred as DG, ITBP 9 Sanjay Kumar, IPS (HP:1985) 6 July 2017 31 December 2018 formerly DGP, Himachal Pradesh 10 Satya Narayan Pradhan, IPS (JH:1988) 22 January 2019 15 November 2021 formerly Joint Secretary, Ministry of DoNER; transferred as DG, NCB 11 Atul Karwal, IPS (GJ:1988) 15 November 2021 31 March 2024 formerly Director, SVPNPA 12 Piyush Anand, IPS (UP:1991) 1 April 2024 Incumbent formerly SDG, CISF
Composition National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is a force of 16 battalions, organised on para-military lines, and composed of persons on deputation from the central armed police forces of India: three Border Security Force, three Central Reserve Police Force, two Central Industrial Security Force, two Indo-Tibetan Border Police, two Sashastra Seema Bal and one of the Assam Rifles. The total strength of each battalion is approximately 1149. Each battalion is capable of providing 18 self-contained specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel each including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads and medical/paramedics.
Deployment
NDRF battalions are located at 12 different locations in the country based on the vulnerability profile to cut down the response time for their deployment. During the preparedness period fordisaster situations, proactive deployment of these forces is to be carried out by the NDMA in consultation with state authorities. Locations of NDRF Battalions are as follows: S. No. NDRF Unit State PMF 1 01 Bn NDRF, Guwahati Assam BSF 202 Bn NDRF, Nadia West Bengal BSF 3 03 Bn NDRF, Cuttack Odisha CISF 4 04 Bn NDRF, Vellore Tamil Nadu CISF 5 05 Bn NDRF, Pune Maharashtra CRPF 6 06 Bn NDRF, Vadodara Gujarat CRPF 7 07 Bn NDRF, Bhatinda Punjab ITBP 8 08 Bn NDRF, Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh ITBP 9 09 Bn NDRF, Patna Bihar BSF 10 10 Bn NDRF, Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh CRPF 11 11 Bn NDRF, Varanasi Uttar Pradesh SSB 12 12 Bn NDRF, Itanagar Arunachal Pradesh SSB 13 13 Bn NDRF, Samba, Jammu and Kashmir Assam Rifles 14 14 Bn NDRF, Mandi Himachal Pradesh ITBP 15 15 Bn NDRF, Haldwani Uttarakhand ITBP16 16 Bn NDRF, Najafgarh New Delhi BSF
Mission The National Disaster Management Authority aims to make India safer and disaster resilient by developing a proactive, multi-disaster, and technology driven strategy for disaster management. The agency's goal is using prevention, mitigation, and preparedness to ensure adequate response to disasters.
NDRF conducts rescue and relief operations, regular and intensive training, familiarization exercises within the area of responsibility of respective NDRF Battalions, and joint exercises.
Disaster response
NDRF has proved its efficacy with its commendable performance during various disasters including the drowning cases, building collapses, landslides, devastating floods and Cyclones. NDRF has saved human lives and retrieved 2760 dead bodies of disaster victims in 73 response operations in the country. Some of the major response operations of NDRF as below:
2007 Flood in Bhavnagar, Gujarat – 3–5 July 2007 – Rescued 291 people; distributed 3,750 food packets Flood in Rajkot, Gujarat – 3–5 July 2007 – Rescued 291 people; distributed 3,750 food packets 2008 Building collapse (Hotel Shakunt) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat – 3–5 Feb 2008 – Saved 10 people and recovered six dead bodies Flood in Lakhimpur, Assam – 14 June – 20 July 2008 – Rescued 2500 civilians Flood in Dhemaji, Assam – 16 June – 31 July 2008 – Rescued 600 people Flood in Lakhimpur, Assam – 21 July – 4 August 2008 – Evacuated 2000 people
Kosi breach in Bihar – 20 August 2008 – Saved over 105,000 people including women, children and the elderly; distributed medicines and water bottles Flood in Lakhimpur, Assam – 31 Aug – 9 September 2008 – Saved 750 people Flood in Puri, Cuttack, Kendrapara & Jagatsinghpur, Odisha – Sept 2008 – Saved over 1000 people Flood in Kamrup, Assam – 28 September 2008 – Saved 350 people Flood in Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu – 26–30 Nov 2008 – Saved 773 people Flood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 26 Nov – 2 December 2008 – Rescued 1550 people 2009 Cyclone Aila in North 24 Parganas & South 24 Parganas, West Bengal – 25 May – 10 June 2009 – Rescued 2000 people; distribution of medicine to 30,000 victims & food packets to 16,000 homeless victims Flood in Barpeta, Assam – 27 May 2009 – Saved 300 people Flood in Junagarh and Porbandar, Gujarat – 16 to 29 July 2009 – Saved 2225 people Flood in Kasarkode, Kannur and Ernakulam, Kerala – 17–24 July 2009 – Saved 180 people Flood in Sitamarhi, Bihar (Bagmati breach) – 2–9 Aug 2009 – Rescued 1034 people; distributed medicines to 831 victims Flood in Howrah & Hooghly, West Bengal – 8–14 Sep 2009 – Rescue 675 people Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka Floods – Oct 2009 – Saved 10,659 people
2010 Building collapse at Bellary, Karnataka – 27 January 2010 – Saved 20 human lives and recovered 27 dead bodies Flood in Guwahati, Assam – 20–25 April 2010 – Saved 300 human lives Cyclone Laila in Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka – 18 May 2010 2011
46 members NDRF team performed search and rescue operation in Onagawa, Miyagi (Japan).
2013 Cyclone Phailin in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, etc. – The battalions of the army and navy were used to evacuate people. 2015 NDRF rushed teams to parts of India and Nepal affected by a late April earthquake. Flood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 10 Nov
2018
At least 58 teams of NDRF were deputed in Kerala during a flood in August 2018 making it the highest-ever deployment of NDRF in any single state since its raising. As many as 194 people were rescued and more than 10,000 evacuated.
2020
Gas leak in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh – 7 May 2020 Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal
2021 Glacial outburst flood in Uttarakhand – 7 February 2021 Cyclone Yaas in Odisha and West Bengal 2023
The NDRF teams were deployed in Assam to tackle the annual flood situation. The force carried out rescue operations, evacuating stranded people and providing them with essential relief materials. NDRF was instrumental in minimising the loss of life during the cyclone that hit Odisha. The force was involved in preemptive evacuations, search and rescue operations, and distribution of relief materials. The NDRF teams were quick to respond to the earthquake that struck Himachal Pradesh. They carried out search and rescue operations, helping to locate and save trapped individuals. The NDRF has been actively involved in rescue efforts in Bharuch district, specifically in Nikora Village. The force saved 105 people stranded in low-lying areas and relocated them to safety in collaboration with the civil administration. This operation was particularly challenging due to the water level being above the danger mark. During the Kosi breach in Bihar in August 2008, which was declared a national calamity by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, NDRF personnel actively engaged themselves in rescue operations and relief duties in districts Supaul, Madhepura, Araria and Purnia. About 780 NDRF personnel trained in flood rescue operations along with 153 high capacity inflatable boats and other rescue equipment were deployed in the flood affected areas. The swift and highly skilled operations of NDRF saved more than 100,000 people trapped in swirling waters of the Koshi River. NDRF personnel distributed relief supplies including drinking water to the stranded flood victims. Medical camps were also established to provide medical care to the flood affected people. Impressed with prompt and efficient response of NDRF, Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Nitish Kumar approached Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh for a NDRF Bn to be stationed in Bihar and offered of land at Bihta near Patna.
NDRF commendable rescue operations were no less appreciated during the 2008 floods in Odisha, Maharashtra, Kerala and Assam.
On 25 May 2009 Cyclone Aila hit West Bengal. At least 94 people were killed, seven of them in Kolkata, over 4 million people were affected. More than six lakh houses were destroyed completely or damaged partially. NDRF promptly responded to the devastating situation and 600 personnel of NDRF with 84 boats and other rescue equipment started rescue and relief operations at cyclone affected areas of district 24 Pargana North and South of West Bengal. During the operations NDRF personnel rescued around 2000 trapped persons and distributed 50 truckloads of relief materials to the affected people.
On 1 October 2009, in the wake of worsening flood situations in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the governments of both states sent requests for deployment of the force for rescue and relief operations. NDMA mobilised 963 flood rescue trained personnel (including some deep divers) and 308 inflatable motorised boats from 05 NDRF Bns located at Arakkonam (Chennai), Pune, Mundali (Odisha), Greater Noida and Bhatinda and airlifted on 2–3 Oct 2009 in Air Force IL-76 and AN-32 aircraft from nearest Air Force bases and Civil Airports. The rescue personnel deployed in 04 districts of Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool, Vijayawada, Mehboob Nagar and Nandyal) and 04 districts of Karnataka (Bagalkote, Raichur, Gadag and Vijaypur) and immediately started rescue and relief operations in the flood affected districts of both the states.
NDRF rescued tens of thousands of persons marooned in the floods in these two states and distributed over 40 quintals of food and drinking water. The medical teams of NDRF administered medical first response and distributed medicines to the flood victims.
On 26 January 2010 a five-storey under-construction residential building collapsed at Bellary, Karnataka with about 50 people trapped under the debris. Three rescue teams (102 personnel) of NDRF Bn Pune promptly airlifted to Bellary and NDRF personnel carried out round the clock operation with the help of search & rescue equipment and dogs for nine days. In the operation the NDRF managed to rescue 20 people from under the debris. The last person was rescued on the 9th day. NDRF also retrieved 27 bodies trapped under debris.
Training