Parliament Question: Climate Disasters Ranking

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1553 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2026 Climate Disasters Ranking

1553. DR. RAJ KUMAR CHABBEWAL:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware that as per a recent Climate Risk Index (CRI) report, India has been ranked 9th among the list of countries worst affected by climate-related disasters in the world;

(b) if so, the details of the major climate-related disasters in the country, State/UT-wise along with the reasons therefor;

(c) whether the Government plans to take any concrete steps to mitigate the growing number of climate related disasters in the country; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) to (d) Various parts of the country have experienced extreme events, including cyclonic storms, droughts, floods, heat waves, landslides and glacial lake outburst floods. India's east and west coasts are prone to tropical cyclone activity, the Indian Himalayan Region lying in seismic zones IV and V, is highly vulnerable to landslides, floods and glacial lake outburst floods. Heatwaves are occurring more frequently over the Indo-Gangetic plains, central and north-western India, while extreme precipitation and flooding have affected several parts of the country, particularly the Indo-Gangetic plains, peninsular, eastern and north-eastern regions.

The Government has taken concrete and targeted steps to mitigate the growing risks from climate- related disasters through hazard-specific mitigation and resilience-building programmes implemented across vulnerable States and regions, such as:

i. For drought mitigation, focused interventions have been supported in drought-prone States including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, with emphasis on area-specific farming systems, surface and groundwater management and agro-forestry, aimed at enhancing long-term drought resilience.ii. To address forest fires, the Government of India has approved the Mitigation Scheme for Forest Fire Risk Management for implementation in 144 high-priority districts across 19 States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttarakhand, focusing on prevention, preparedness, response and post-fire recovery.

iii. For urban flooding, integrated structural and non-structural flood management measures are being implemented in major cities including Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Chennai, as well as Tier-II cities such as Guwahati, Patna, Kanpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow and Raipur.

iv. The National GLOF Risk Mitigation Programme (NGRMP) has been approved for glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) risk mitigation in Himalayan States including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, covering hazard and risk assessment, monitoring and early warning systems, mitigation measures and community awareness.

v. For landslide risk mitigation, targeted interventions have been undertaken in landslide- prone States including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, with special focus on Himalayan and North-Eastern regions, through a comprehensive programme, namely the National Landslide Risk Mitigation Programme (NLRMP).

vi. In addition, flood mitigation through wetland has been supported in Assam, covering multiple districts, to enhance natural storage capacity and reduce flood impacts. Coastal risk mitigation and resilience measures have also been implemented in coastal States and Union Territories to address risks from erosion, flooding and storm surges through the Integrated Coastal Risk Mitigation and Resilience Programme.

These measures reflect the Government’s continued focus on preventive mitigation, risk-informed planning and resilience-oriented development to reduce the impacts of climate-related disasters. *****