<br/>The World Bank has approved a 255 million us dollars assistance to India to help mitigate the risks and vulnerability of people to natural disasters. The first phase of India's National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Programme is financed through a credit from the International Development Corporation. The details of the assistance package are expected to be announced in Delhi by the Bank's country director. <br/> <br/>The objective of the package is 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 the central, state and local levels. <br/> <br/>AIR correspondent reports India is highly vulnerable to natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts, cyclones and landslides and the government has out in place a comprehensive disaster management policy to minimize the impact of natural disasters. <br/> <br/>The executive director of the institute of Disaster management P G Dhar Chakrabarti told AIR that a massive programme is being launched in the disaster prone areas to sanitise people about design and the material to be used in structures in earth quake prone areas and precautions to be taken during other natural disasters. <br/> <br/>Several areas of the country are quake prone and about 5,700 kilometres of coastline is exposed to severe cyclones and approximately 40 percent of India's population lives within 100 km of the coastline. <br/>