Disaster Management and International Health for NEET PG PSM: Disaster Cycle, Triage Tags, IHR 2024 and Pandemic Emergency

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🎯 Exam priority: Medium. Expect triage colours, who heads which disaster body, what a PHEIC is, and yellow fever certificate timing. IHR changed in 2025.

CBME mapping: CM 13.1–13.4, CM 18.1–18.3.

The Disaster Cycle

Most of the cycle happens before and after the event. India's plan moved from relief alone to reducing risk.

• Pre-disaster: prevention, mitigation and risk reduction, then preparedness.

• Disaster: response.

• Post-disaster: recovery, aiming to Build Back Better.

India's approach has shifted from a relief-centric model to a proactive one. The National Disaster Management Plan follows the Sendai Framework (2015–2030), whose four priorities are:

• Understanding disaster risk

• Strengthening disaster risk governance

• Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience

• Enhancing preparedness for effective response and to Build Back Better

Who Runs Disaster Management in India

The National Disaster Response Force is the specialist national response force. On the ground, the Incident Response System sets roles and sites such as the incident command post and relief camp.

Disaster Management (Amendment) Act 2025:

• Gives legal status to the National Crisis Management Committee and a High Level Committee.

• Lets a state constitute a State Disaster Response Force.

• Adds Urban Disaster Management Authorities and a disaster database.

• Clarifies that "man-made causes" do not include law and order situations.

Triage

Triage sorts casualties so that limited resources help the greatest number. The START method uses four tags:

START assesses five things: ability to walk, spontaneous breathing, respiratory rate, a radial pulse or capillary refill under 2 seconds, and ability to obey commands.

The counter-intuitive point: red goes to those who are badly hurt but can be saved. Those beyond saving, given the resources, are tagged black.

WHO and the International Health Regulations

WHO's constitution came into force on 7 April 1948, marked each year as World Health Day. Member States are grouped into six regions.

The International Health Regulations (2005) aim to prevent, protect against, control and respond to the international spread of disease, while avoiding unnecessary interference with traffic and trade.

• Timing: a country assesses urgent events within 48 hours and notifies WHO within 24 hours of assessment.

• 2024 amendments took effect on 19 September 2025, adding "pandemic emergency" as the highest alert. 11 of 196 States Parties rejected them, so earlier versions still apply to those states.

• WHO's role is as secretariat: it has no authority to compel countries to act.

• Members also adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement, a separate instrument.

Yellow fever is the one vaccination named in the IHR as a condition of entry:

• Incubation period: 6 days.

• Protection and certificate validity start 10 days after vaccination.

• The certificate is valid for the life of the person vaccinated.

Traps the Examiner Sets

• NDMA is chaired by the Prime Minister; the National Crisis Management Committee by the Cabinet Secretary.

• Red, not black, is the first priority for treatment.

• Assess in 48 hours, notify in 24 hours after that.

• Pandemic emergency applies only to communicable disease and sits above a PHEIC.

• Yellow fever certificates are lifelong, starting on day 10. Annex 7 was amended in 2014, in force from 11 July 2016, so older notes saying 10 years are out of date.

Memory Hooks & Shortcuts

Shortcuts to lock in this article's numbers and lists. Each one only re-packages facts proven above.

• 🧠 PM, CM, DM — NDMA, SDMA, DDMA heads: Prime Minister, Chief Minister, District Magistrate

• 🧠 Red = rescue now — immediate, salvageable

• 🧠 48 then 24 — IHR: assess, then notify

• 🧠 Yellow fever: 6, 10, for life — incubation 6 days, valid from day 10, lifelong certificate

• 🧠 April 7 is WHO — constitution in force 1948, World Health Day

• 🧠 Sendai 15 to 30 — the framework runs 2015–2030

Rapid-Revision Cards

• Disaster cycle

  Prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery.

• Sendai Framework

  2015–2030; four priorities.

• Sendai priorities

  Understand risk, governance, invest in risk reduction, preparedness and Build Back Better.

• NDMA head

  Prime Minister.

• SDMA head

  Chief Minister.

• DDMA head

  Collector or District Magistrate, co-chaired by the local body head.

• NCMC head

  Cabinet Secretary.

• 2025 amendment

  NCMC and High Level Committee given legal status; SDRF; Urban Authorities; disaster database.

• Man-made causes

  Exclude law and order situations.

• Red tag

  Immediate: life-threatening but salvageable.

• Yellow tag

  Delayed: serious, not immediately life-threatening.

• Green tag

  Minor.

• Black tag

  Expectant: dead or unlikely to survive.

• START checks

  Walking, breathing, respiratory rate, perfusion, obeying commands.

• WHO constitution

  7 April 1948; six regions.

• PHEIC

  Extraordinary event with international spread risk needing coordinated response.

• Pandemic emergency

  Highest alert: communicable PHEIC, wide spread, health systems exceeded, major disruption.

• IHR timings

  Assess within 48 hours; notify WHO within 24 hours of assessment.

• 2024 IHR amendments in force

  19 September 2025.

• Yellow fever certificate

  Valid from day 10, for life.

• Yellow fever incubation

  6 days.

Sources

Facts in this article were checked against these documents.

• National Disaster Management Plan — NDMA, 2019 (link)

• The Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025 — Gazette of India, 29 March 2025 (link)

• START Adult Triage — CHEMM, US Department of Health and Human Services, accessed November 2026 (link)

• International Health Regulations (2005), as amended in 2014, 2022 and 2024 — WHO, 2025 (link)

• Amended International Health Regulations enter into force — WHO, 19 September 2025 (link)

• History of WHO; WHO regional offices — WHO, accessed November 2026 (link)

Test Yourself: Practice Questions

Twenty-one questions in NEET PG style.

Practice Questions (NEET PG pattern)

Original questions written in the style of the exam: +4 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong one. Every answer was checked against the sources listed above. NEET PG papers are not published by NBEMS, so these are not past-paper questions.

Q1. After a bus crash, a man has heavy bleeding and is breathing fast but can be saved with prompt care. His triage tag is

• (a) red

• (b) yellow

• (c) green

• (d) black

Q2. A victim has a closed fracture of the femur, stable vitals and is not expected to deteriorate over several hours. The tag is

• (a) yellow

• (b) red

• (c) black

• (d) green

Q3. A person with cuts and bruises walks to the triage area. The tag is

• (a) green

• (b) red

• (c) black

• (d) yellow

Q4. A black triage tag means the casualty is

• (a) the first to be transported

• (b) dead or unlikely to survive given injuries and resources

• (c) uninjured

• (d) contaminated by chemicals

Q5. Which is assessed in START triage?

• (a) Glasgow Coma Scale total

• (b) Blood group

• (c) Blood pressure by cuff

• (d) Ability to obey commands

Q6. The National Disaster Management Authority is headed by the

• (a) Prime Minister

• (b) Home Minister

• (c) Cabinet Secretary

• (d) Health Minister

Q7. The National Crisis Management Committee is chaired by the

• (a) Chief Justice of India

• (b) Prime Minister

• (c) President

• (d) Cabinet Secretary

Q8. The District Disaster Management Authority is headed by the

• (a) Member of Parliament

• (b) Superintendent of Police

• (c) District Collector or Magistrate

• (d) Chief Medical Officer

Q9. Under the Disaster Management (Amendment) Act 2025, 'man-made causes' of a disaster do not include

• (a) nuclear accidents

• (b) law and order situations

• (c) chemical spills

• (d) industrial accidents

Q10. Stocking supplies, running drills and setting up warning systems belong to which phase?

• (a) Response

• (b) Rehabilitation

• (c) Preparedness

• (d) Recovery

Q11. 'Build Back Better' relates to which phase of disaster management?

• (a) Preparedness

• (b) Recovery

• (c) Prevention

• (d) Mitigation

Q12. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction covers

• (a) 2020–2035

• (b) 2000–2015

• (c) 2015–2030

• (d) 2005–2015

Q13. The first priority of the Sendai Framework is

• (a) funding insurance

• (b) understanding disaster risk

• (c) building shelters

• (d) investing in relief

Q14. WHO's constitution came into force on

• (a) 10 December 1948

• (b) 24 October 1945

• (c) 7 April 1948

• (d) 1 January 1950

Q15. Under the IHR, a country must notify WHO of a potential PHEIC within

• (a) 14 days

• (b) 24 hours of assessment

• (c) 48 hours of the first case

• (d) 7 days

Q16. Under IHR core capacities, urgent events must be assessed within

• (a) 7 days

• (b) 24 hours

• (c) 72 hours

• (d) 48 hours

Q17. Which is true of a 'pandemic emergency' under the amended IHR?

• (a) It is declared by each country

• (b) It can be declared for any non-communicable disease

• (c) It replaces PHEIC entirely

• (d) It is a PHEIC caused by a communicable disease with wide spread and overwhelmed health systems

Q18. The 2024 IHR amendments came into force on

• (a) 1 June 2024

• (b) 1 January 2026

• (c) 7 April 2025

• (d) 19 September 2025

Q19. A traveller is vaccinated against yellow fever. The certificate becomes valid

• (a) after 30 days, for life

• (b) after 6 days, for 5 years

• (c) at once, for 10 years

• (d) 10 days after vaccination, for life

Q20. The incubation period of yellow fever under the IHR is

• (a) 21 days

• (b) 6 days

• (c) 10 days

• (d) 14 days

Q21. The centre in each country reachable at all times for communication with WHO is the

• (a) National Crisis Management Committee

• (b) National Disaster Response Force

• (c) Regional Office

• (d) National IHR Focal Point

Active Recall

From memory: draw the disaster cycle; name who heads each disaster body; give the four triage tags; state the Sendai priorities; define PHEIC and pandemic emergency; and give the IHR notification timings and the yellow fever rules.