Notified Disaster List

Introduction

• In Indian disaster management, the phrase “notified disaster list” usually refers to the list of disasters that are officially eligible for relief assistance from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
• This list is important because only these centrally notified disasters are ordinarily eligible for relief assistance under the SDRF/NDRF framework.

Current centrally notified disaster list

• The current officially listed disasters covered under SDRF/NDRF are:
  • Cyclone
  • Drought
  • Earthquake
  • Fire
  • Flood
  • Tsunami
  • Hailstorm
  • Landslide
  • Avalanche
  • Cloudburst
  • Pest attack
  • Frost and cold wave.

Total number

• The current centrally notified list contains 12 disasters.

Source of the list

• The official NDM India page on SDRF directly lists these disasters under the heading “Disaster(s) covered under SDRF.”
• Recent PIB replies in 2025 also repeated the same 12-disaster list while answering questions about extreme heat and disaster assistance.

Why this list matters

• This list matters because SDRF/NDRF assistance is tied to immediate relief for disasters that are officially covered under the guidelines.
• In other words, whether a disaster is on the notified list directly affects the availability of central relief assistance under this framework.

Heat wave issue

• A common confusion is about heat waves.
• As of the latest official replies I checked, heat wave is not included in the centrally notified SDRF/NDRF disaster list. PIB replies from 20 August 2025 still state that the notified list contains only the 12 disasters named above, and they do not include heat wave.
• This is important because many students assume heatwaves are centrally notified disasters, but the official list currently mentions only frost and cold wave, not heat wave.

Can more disasters be added?

• The Government has stated that the issue of including more calamities in the centrally notified list was considered by the 15th Finance Commission.
• So the list is not conceptually frozen forever, but as of the latest official material I checked, the current central notified list remains the same 12 disasters.

State-specific local disasters

• States have some flexibility beyond the central list.
• PIB stated in December 2024 that mitigation funds may also be used for state-specific local disasters notified by State Governments.
• This means there is a distinction between:
  • the centrally notified disaster list for SDRF/NDRF, and
  • state-specific local disasters that states may notify within their own framework.

What is not included

• Older MHA material specifically noted that erosion is not included in the centrally notified list of natural disasters eligible for SDRF/NDRF relief.
• This is useful because UPSC and state exams sometimes ask which disasters are not in the notified list.

Key points to remember

• “Notified disaster list” usually means the disasters eligible for SDRF/NDRF assistance.
• The current central list has 12 disasters.
• The disasters are:
  • cyclone
  • drought
  • earthquake
  • fire
  • flood
  • tsunami
  • hailstorm
  • landslide
  • avalanche
  • cloudburst
  • pest attack
  • frost and cold wave.
• Heat wave is not currently in the central notified SDRF/NDRF list.
• States may notify state-specific local disasters separately.

Conclusion

• The notified disaster list in India currently refers to the 12 centrally notified disasters eligible for SDRF/NDRF relief assistance. The most important exam point is that this list includes frost and cold wave, but does not currently include heat wave.