Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA)

Q. Why is this in news?

A. Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) is now being done simultaneously in Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha and Meghalaya.

• PDNA is now being used to evaluate the financial and social cost of local disasters in eight states in India.
• These states all experienced severe flooding in the last few months.
• The results of these assessments are likely to come out next month.

Q. What is PDNA?

A. 

• PDNA is an internationally accepted methodology for determining the physical damages, economic losses, and costs of meeting recovery needs after a natural disaster through a government-led process.
• It is an international framework for assessing losses and damages in the aftermath of a disaster.
• The framework helps get recovery and reconstruction efforts right following a disaster.
• Globally, of the 55 PDNAs conducted worldwide since 2008, only two droughts — one in Malawi and the other Marshall Islands in 2016 — were of slow-onset disasters.

Q. What are the Components of PDNA?

A. 

• PDNA includes a calculation of the disaster’s impact on Gross Domestic Product, the balance of payment and fiscal budget.
• Secondly, how this affects the flow of revenue to multiple sectors is evaluated.
• For example, the number of farmers’ income affected per damaged acre of land and the livelihoods lost.
• Overall, a quantitative assessment is additionally done on the social and environmental impact of the disaster.

History of PDNA in India

• This is not the first time PDNA has been conducted in India.
• It was first adopted during the Kerala floods of 2018 and again during the cyclone in Odisha in 2019, both unprecedented disasters.
• Until now, the assessment was only limited to massive disasters that required international funding from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations.

Q. What about 15th Finance Commission provision?

A. 

• The 15th finance commission report of 2021, for the first time, made a provision for recovery and reconstruction in the national disaster management budget, which is at the core of the PDNA.
• The states did not receive international funding to do the current ongoing PDNAs, as they are expected to take the money from the budget.