Disaster Management

GS Paper: GS Paper III | Subject: Environment

Prelims

(Key facts, data, schemes, laws, organizations — MCQ-ready points)

21 killed, 12 foreign nationals among them, in a hotel blaze in Saket / Hauz Rani, South Delhi
Core lapse: building had 26 rooms but a permit for only 6 — illegal expansion, no NOC (No Objection Certificate)
Most victims were patients/caregivers staying near hospitals for treatment; hotel owner arrested → spotlight on fire-safety enforcement in dense urban clusters

Op-ed: India's Heat Action Plans (HAPs) focus on hydration, shade and work-hour shifts but overlook clothing — a low-cost, high-impact heat-coping lever
Heat is an escalating killer (heatwaves); preparedness must add behavioural/clothing guidance, esp. for outdoor workers

(Analysis, dimensions, significance, critique, policy angles — for 10/15 mark answers)

Man-made "disaster": The hotel fire is a governance failure, not an act of nature — illegal construction, bypassed NOCs, weak municipal inspection. Recurs (cf. earlier hospital/coaching-centre fires)
Vulnerability concentration: Victims were medical-tourism patients clustered near hospitals in informal lodgings → disaster risk tracks informal urbanisation and poverty
Heat as a slow disaster: HAPs must move from generic advisories to micro-targeted, locally-grounded measures (clothing, cooling, work timing) — a reminder that adaptation lives in implementation detail
Way forward: Third-party fire audits, accountability for sanctioning authorities, integrating heatwaves into notified disaster frameworks (SDRF/NDRF), behaviour-focused HAPs
UPSC angle: Urban disaster management, fire safety & building bye-laws, Heat Action Plans, NDMA, vulnerability & informal settlements