The prevalent geo-climatic conditions as well as increased frequency of natural calamities in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Region, especially in the wake of the recent disasters in the region, calls for enhanced levels of preparedness and risk resilience as well as collaborative action amongst member countries to individually and jointly deal with such disaster situations to prevent loss of lives and assets. To mitigate the impact of disasters, The South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise (SAADMEx) 2015 was on 26 November 2015 concluded by the Union Government in Delhi. This was the first-ever joint exercise to be conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) of India. This exercise has the participation of delegations and rescuers from each of the eight SAARC Nations – India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The key focus of SAADMEx-2015 is to test coordination efforts, create synergy and synchronize efforts to institutionalise regional cooperation on disaster response among the member countries.

Main objective:

Strengthen the effective utilization and quick deployment of the Search and Rescue Teams for Disaster Relief and Emergency Response, including Emergency Rapid Assessment Teams;

Effective activation of the national process for regional response and operationalization of regional mechanism for collective response to disasters in the region (including information sharing on early warning) ;

Management of mass casualties which among others would involve communication breakdown and engineering difficulties;

Receiving of aid / humanitarian assistance as well as its effective and timely distribution;

Management of consular assistance to foreign tourists in the disaster area;

Coordination and information sharing with foreign embassies in the disaster affected country;

Management of media officials and control of information outflow (management of information);

Role of International and local agencies / volunteers and their coordination with the HADR (Govt.) authorities.

Special needs of vulnerable population i.e. women, children and people with disabilities in the disaster area.

South Asia is disaster prone: Over the past forty years, South Asia faced as many as 1,333 disasters that killed 980,000 people, affected 2.4 billion lives and damaged assets worth US$105 billion. This loss is by far the highest among the recorded disasters in various geographical regions .

A major threat comes from the fast melting Himalayas. The Himalayan system shapes the monsoon dynamics in the region. Some of the glaciers in Himalayas are receding more rapidly than the global average.This is also causing increased threats of glacial lake outburst floods in certain countries especially in Bhutan and Nepal. As glaciers melt, flood risks would increase in the near future. However in the later years, the region may be deprived of its precious water resources.

South Asia has a long and densely populated coastline with low-lying islands that are vulnerable to sea level rise. Having a coastline of 12,000 kilometers and a number of islands, the region is highly vulnerable to cyclones, storm surges, tsunamis and sea level rise. Low-lying islands (the Maldives, coastal areas of Sri Lanka and islands of Bangladesh) are vulnerable to sea rise. Major coastal cities like Chennai, Karachi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Cochin are exposed to increased risks of climatic disasters e.g. sea intrusion, tsunami and cyclones. Landslides in Himalayas, cold waves in plains also worsening the situation.

Recent Nepal earthquake also highlight the disaster prone nature of South Asia, It should be counter with better preparedness and such kind of exercises have the potential to mitigate the possible risk of life.