THE NATIONAL DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT ACT
Kenya
National Disaster Risk Management Act
Act No. 16 of 2026
Legislation as at 2 June 2026
By Kenya Law and Laws.Africa. Share widely and freely.
www.kenyalaw.org | [email protected]
FRBR URI: /akn/ke/act/2026/16/eng@2026-06-02
There is no copyright on the legislative content of this document.
This PDF copy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-NCSA 4.0). This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements:
- BY: credit must be given to the creator.
- NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
- SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
Share widely and freely.
NATIONAL DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT ACT
NO. 16 OF 2026
Published in Kenya Gazette on 2 June 2026
Assented to on 29 May 2026
Commenced on 16 June 2026
AN ACT of Parliament to establish the National Disaster Risk Management Authority and County Disaster Risk Management Committees; to provide a legal framework for the co-ordination of disaster risk management activities; and for connected purposes
Part I – PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the National Disaster Risk Management Act, 2026.
2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
“Authority” means the National Disaster Risk Management Authority established under section 5;
“Board” means the Board of the National Disaster Risk Management Authority constituted under section 9;
“Cabinet Secretary” means the Cabinet Secretary responsible for matters relating to disaster risk management;
“Centre” means a County Disaster Risk Management Centre established under section 36;
“climate change adaptation” means adjustment to ecological, social or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic impacts in order to moderate potential damages or to benefit from opportunities associated with climate change;
“climate change” means a change in the climate system which is caused by significant changes in the concentration of greenhouse gases as a consequence of human activities and which is in addition to natural climate change that has been observed during a considerable period;
“County Executive Committee Member” means the county executive committee member responsible for matters relating to disaster risk management;
“County Committee” means the County Disaster Risk Management Committee established under section 31;
“Director-General” means the Director-General of the Authority appointed under section 20;
“disaster” means a progressive or sudden, widespread, localized, natural or human-caused occurrence which—
(a) causes or threatens to cause—
(i) death, injury or disease;
(ii) damage to property, infrastructure or the environment; or
(iii) significant disruption of the life of a community; and
(b) is of a magnitude that exceeds the ability of those affected by the disaster to cope with its effects using only their own resources;
“disaster risk” means the potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged assets which could occur to a system, society or a community in a specific period of time, determined probabilistically as a function of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity;
“disaster risk management” means a continuous and integrated multisectoral, multi-disciplinary process of developing, planning and implementing of policies, strategies and measures aimed at—
(a) having in place a permanent structure of disaster risk management at the county and national level;
(b) identifying and mapping disaster prone or vulnerable areas, situations or people;
(c) issuing early-warning of imminent disaster;
(d) relocating populations in case of imminent disasters;
(e) preventing or reducing the risk of disasters;
(f) mitigating the severity or consequences of disasters;
(g) protecting the most vulnerable populations in disasters including women, children, persons with disabilities and the elderly;
(h) emergency preparedness;
(i) a rapid and effective response to disasters;
(j) post-disaster recovery, restoration and rehabilitation; and
(k) using technology to better manage disasters.
“disaster risk reduction” means either a policy goal or objective, and the strategic and instrumental measures employed for—
(a) anticipating future disaster risk; and
(b) reducing existing exposure, hazard or vulnerability;
“early warning system” means an integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, disaster risk assessment, communication and preparedness activities, systems and processes that enables individuals, communities, governments, businesses and others to take timely action to reduce disaster risks in advance of hazardous events;
“emergency” means an actual or imminent situation that arises suddenly, posing an immediate threat to life, health, property, environment, infrastructure, economic stability or public order that—
(a) requires prompt coordinated action to protect life and property and restore essential services;
(b) maybe caused by natural, technological, and human-induced health or industrial incidents;
(c) exceeds normal response capabilities requiring multi-agency intervention.
“emergency preparedness” means—
(a) measures in place which enable organs of the national and county governments and other institutions involved in disaster risk management, the private sector, communities and individuals to mobilize, organize and provide relief measures to deal with an impending or current disaster or the effects of a disaster;
(b) the knowledge and capacities developed by governments, professional response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to and recover from the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard events or condition improving resilience;
(c) having in place a policy at the national and county level on disaster response;