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Abstract
Disasters like Floods, Cyclones, Droughts and Earthquakes are increasing in India and almost all parts of the earth, due to environmental degradation, deforestation, increasing population, global warming, nuclear explosions, and air pollution. There is also worldwide concern to mitigate the growing incidence of disaster and their toll on human life, property, and environment. The role of Panchayats (local self governing institutions) is important in view of their proximity to the local community, universal coverage and enlisting people’s participation on an institutionalized basis. The major role of the Panchayati Raj Bodies in respect of disaster management is in the preparedness planning and its implementation during the pre and post- disaster phase. The village people are the most vulnerable for disasters and therefore the gram panchayats have to play a major role in association with the higher level bodies of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as well as with the government agencies and others. Keeping this in view a study was undertaken in disaster prone areas in West Bengal on role of gram panchayat in disaster preparedness. A total 150 respondents were selected randomly for this study. Majority (94%) of the respondents opined that disaster forecasting system of the local government was not up to the mark and majority (74.67%) were getting information from electronic media like T.V and Radio about occurrence of disasters. 70% of the respondents were getting information from friends and relatives. there was no significant association was there between the socio personal traits of the respondents and the disaster preparedness. As because most of the respondent belongs to low social strata as found from the socio-economic profile of the respondents.Â