AMIDST INCREASING instances of city-level disasters like urban flooding or heatwaves, the Centre has proposed to set up an Urban Disaster Management Authority (UDMA) in each of the state capitals and all other cities that have a municipal corporation. The UDMAs will form the third tier of the institutional framework alongside the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA). In fact, the third tier, at the district level, also exists. But the UDMAs are meant to cater to the special needs of larger cities that…