Recognition, Reform Main Components To Strengthen Disaster Management: PM

Recognition and Reform are the two main components for strengthening disaster management, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

After inaugurating the third session of the national platform for disaster risk reduction, he said that after the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the world has recognised and appreciated the role of India's disaster management efforts. 

“The way India has expanded the technology and human resources related to disaster management has served the country well," said the Prime Minister. 

Modi called to develop models of housing or town planning at the local level. He added that India needs to encourage use of advanced technology in these sectors.

He said, in India, the system, solutions and strategy of disaster management has always been local. He gave an example of Bhunga houses of Kutch which survived the earthquake to a large extent. 

The Prime Minister stressed the need to evolve local models of housing and town planning as per new technologies. 

“Enriching local technology and material with the new technology is the need of the hour. When we link the examples of local resilience with future technology, only then will we be able to do better in the direction of disaster resilience," he added. 

The Prime Minister underlined that the lifestyle of yesteryears was very comfortable and it was experience that taught us how to deal with natural calamities of drought, flood and incessant rain. 

He pointed out that it was natural for previous governments to place disaster relief with the agricultural department. 

PM Modi recalled that when natural calamities like earthquakes struck, it was dealt at the local level with the help of local resources. 

However, he said, it is a small world that we live in today where learning from experiences and experiments of one another has become a norm. On the other hand, he also noted that the outbreak of natural calamities have also increased in number. 

Drawing the analogy to the single physician in a village who would treat everyone, he shed light on the fact that we have specialist doctors for every ailment in today’s day and age. 

Similarly, the Prime Minister stressed the need to develop a dynamic system to deal with natural calamities. 

He highlighted that by studying natural calamities of the past century, an accurate assumption can be made while also stressing on revising these methods in due time, be it material or system.