A disaster may be a shock incident or stress incident. A single major disaster or “shock” incident can undo hard won development progress and set back the development achieved over years and a “stress” incident can also cause long term socio-economic harm. The number of disasters and the people affected due to the disasters are increasing globally. The developing countries face an average annual loss equivalent to in excess of 2 per cent of GDP. Sustainable rural development is vital to the economic, social and environmental viability of nations. This ensures that this generation’s activities leave future generations with a better resource endowment than that which they inherited. The words disaster risk reduction and sustainable development are closely interlinked. Indian sub-continent because of its unique geo-climatic and socio-political condition it is vulnerable to both natural as well as manmade disasters. Among the natural disasters, floods and drought will greatly affect agriculture. Agriculture is directly connected with the welfare and well-being of the population because it provides employment and sustenance and major sources of revenue for the rural population. A healthy and dynamic agricultural sector is an important foundation of rural development. So, the strategies recommended in this review have to be practiced in an integrated manner in order to overcome the risks of floods and drought. This will ensure some income to the rural community which increases their standard of living and socio-economic condition, which is an indicator of rural development.