This book is one of four reports intended to provide a quick overview of the current status of disaster preparedness planning in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan including the documents, plans, and legal instruments in place and the institutions governing their implementation. It includes a summary of the conclusions of a workshop held in Kathmandu in August 2006 to discuss the status of disaster preparedness in these countries as reflected in policies, strategies, and plans, and to identify gaps and shortcomings. The reports are an outcome of the project Living with risk sharing knowledge on disaster preparedness funded by the European Commission through their Humanitarian Aid department (DG ECHO) as part of the Disaster Preparedness ECHO programme (DIPECHO) in South Asia, and by ICIMOD.