After the devastating Earthquake of 26 January 2001, the Government of Gujarat enacted the Gujarat State Disaster Management Act 2003 with a view to mitigating the loss of lives and detrimental effects of disasters on overall socio-economic development of the state.
The Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) duly constituted under the provisions of the Gujarat State Disaster Management Act 2003, came into existence as authority from 1 September 2003 with its headquarters at Gandhinagar. The GSDMA is responsible for effective management of disasters, mitigation of their effects and facilitating emergency relief during and after occurrence of disasters and also for implementing, monitoring and coordinating reconstruction and rehabilitation in the aftermath of disasters.
In addition, the Gujarat State Disaster Management Act - 2003 provides:
Section 14:
The Authority shall act as a repository of information concerning disasters and disaster management, and shall - (a) Establish an institute
Section 16 (1) (c):
The Authority shall promote or cause to be promoted awareness and preparedness and advise and train the community, and stakeholders with a view to increasing capacity of the community and stakeholders to deal with potential disasters by - (c) Promoting disaster management capacity-building and training programmes amongst communities and other stakeholders.
