National Policy Guidelines on Vulnerable Groups in Disasters.

The main objective of the Guidelines is to provide direction and guidance to disaster management authorities and other related stakeholders on inclusion of the needs of vulnerable groups at all levels. The overall principle to keep in mind in this regard, is that disasters do not happen in a vacuum and that these vulnerable groups are not living in isolation, rather combined they constitute more than half of the population. The main purpose for laying down these Guidelines under the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is: to meet the needs of vulnerable segments of the population in a more targeted manner; to ensure that all interventions are designed with needs of specific groups in mind; to safeguard equitable access, benefits and opportunities in all relief/response designs; to ascertain and encourage balanced and active participation of vulnerable groups in decision making processes that affect them.