Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reminded states of their primary role in disaster management and asked them to be ready to face the new disaster risks posed by growing population, unplanned urbanisation and climate change. Inaugurating the second meeting of the National Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR), Singh said sustainable development was closely related to better disaster management, and efforts must be made to make all development initiatives disaster-resilient.

Every unnatural death should be prevented and all stakeholders should prepare action plans for vulnerable communities of societies, Singh said, while appealing to states to continuously upgrade their preparedness and plans for making the country disaster-resilient. Odisha lost over 10,000 lives in the Super Cyclone, Gujarat had a earthquake in 2001, and there was tsunami in 2004, he added.

Singh said a Rupee spent extra on disaster preparedness and mitigation could save Rs. 10 in disaster loss. Referring to global agreements like Sendai Framework, Sustainable Development Goals, the Climate Change Agreement, he recalled India had prepared a disaster management plan and policy, early warning systems, cyclone shelters and saline embankments, disaster response forces at national and state levels and done capacity building of communities.

India’s recent initiatives for increasing regional cooperation included launching of a dedicated satellite for South Asian Countries, holding of the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016 and setting up of the SAARC disaster management centre, Singh said.

The two-day NPDRR meeting is a multi-stakeholders national platform headed by the Union Home Minister and it promotes participatory decision-making in disaster management with the involvement of the states. Union Minister for Science and  Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister PK Mishra were present .

Rijiju said India is a disaster-prone country and asked the states to draw up concrete plans to implement the 10-point agenda for disaster risk reduction given by the Prime Minister during AMCDRR 2016, keeping in view the geo-physical condition of the region.  RK Jain, Member, National Disaster Management Authority, referred to India’s achievements including version 3.0 of National Database on Emergency Management (NDEM), which is device-independent and browser-independent, and equipped with latest resource-mapping tools and audio and video conference facilities.
Ministers from states highlighted their initiatives in disaster-risk reduction at a ministerial session chaired by the Union Home Minister.

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh and ministers from Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh and Prof Jagdish Mukhi, LG of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, attended the session.