22 June 2010: The World Bank has approved a US$255 million assistance loan for a project to assist India in mitigating the risks and vulnerability of its people to natural disasters, especially cyclones.

The National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (I) (NCRMP-I), in support of the first phase of the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Program, is financed through a Credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm, complemented with US$64 million from the Indian Government’s budget. The NCRMP-I aims to: improve early warning and communication systems; enhance capacity of local communities to respond to disasters; improve access to emergency shelters, evacuation, and protection against cyclone-related hazards such as wind storms, flooding and storm surge in high risk areas; and strengthen disaster risk management capacities at all levels.

N.V.V. Raghava, World Bank Senior Infrastructure Specialist and Project Team Leader, underlines that with increasing climate change and variability, the intensity and frequency of hazard events are “set to grow.” He explains that “The project aims to mitigate the risks and vulnerability of coastal communities to cyclone and other hydrometeorological hazards by reducing the social, economic and financial impacts of future disasters.” [World Bank Press Release]