”India has emerged as a first responder in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) at the global level,” Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Anil Chauhan said today.

In his virtual message to a workshop on ‘Humanitarian Assistance, Disaster Relief, Risk Mitigation and Disaster Resilience,’ he noted that in keeping with its cultural beliefs of ”Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the whole world is one family), India has been playing an important role in providing HADR in the region and beyond.

The workshop was organised as part of India’s chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and attended by speakers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Belarus, Mongolia, Pakistan and China and Russia.

The CDS further added that a collective approach was essential to mitigate the consequences of disasters and with this objective India has been holding multilateral exercises with various countries and multilateral organisations such as the HADR exercise PANEX 21 for BIMSTEC members at Pune in 2021, SMANVAY 22 for ASEAN members at Agra in 2022, etc.

“By strengthening multilateral partnerships through engagement via regional mechanisms, improved interoperability, and faster response, we have played our role as the first responder in the region,” he said.

Gen Chauhan said that the armed forces along with a dedicated organisational structure were often the first responders in the event of a disaster. The ability to work in a hostile environment, organisational skills and logistics know-how make the armed forces most suited for HADR operations.

 Air Marshal BR Krishna, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee inaugurated the workshop. He urged the member states to develop capabilities and capacities of their national organizations to make them capable of mitigating loss of life and property during natural calamities.

The objective of the workshop on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) is to exchange information and share the best practices on risk reduction and resilience, integration of the armed forces in a regional response and disaster infrastructure, and for promoting global collaboration among SCO members.