CASA is registered as a Society under the Societies’ Registration Act XXI of 1860. Its members consist of 24 Protestant and Orthodox Churches in India and CASA functions as the only outreach arm of these Churches. As the Related Agency of the National Council of Churches in India, CASA is mandated to do relief work on behalf of all the Protestant Churches, including the Lutheran Churches in India. CASA has a history of responding to emergencies and disasters since 1947 and is mandated to work in a purely secular manner in all spheres of its programme activities including humanitarian assistance programmes. CASA’s response is regardless of considerations of caste, creed, language, religion, ethnic origin or political affiliation. Priority is given to families belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women headed households, the aged and infirm and other economically backward people. Operating on an all-India basis, CASA responds to 60-70 emergencies – both natural and man-made – per year. CASA has a decentralised disaster preparedness plan. This system has been created through the establishment of a wider and more effective infrastructure network and capacity building programme for CASA staff, representatives of Churches, and identified partner organisations, both at the disaster management and grassroots level, who can respond to our call for assistance at short notice, in consultation with and on behalf of the Churches in India. This network is backed by relief materials purchased and pre-stocked at CASA’s warehouses at strategic locations throughout the country. The quantum of relief material stored at these locations at any given time is determined on the basis of hazard mapping done by CASA, and is subject to constant review and update.