Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said India has become a global leader in the field of disaster management due to the excellent works carried out by the NDMA, NDRF and others.
Addressing a conference of the relief commissioners and disaster response forces of all states and UTs, Shah also said 10 years ago, the approach of the disaster mitigation organisations was for minimum casualties and after 10 years, the approach is to achieve the target of zero casualties.
“Whenever the history of India’s disaster response will be written, the last 10 years of the Modi government will be recorded as a transformative decade. In these 10 years, we have made significant achievements in all four areas — capacity, efficiency, speed and accuracy,” he said.
“In the last 10 years, NDMA, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) have strongly positioned India to become a global leader in the field of disaster management,” he said.
Shah said in the last two years, work has been done to create a platform of ideas with a whole-of-government approach by bringing together workshops and meetings of all the agencies related to relief and disaster management.
Shah said the NDRF has earned nationwide recognition, built a strong reputation and gained respect while the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has also played a significant role in this structure.
He said due to climate change and global warming, the entire world is grappling with disasters and there is a need to move forward with environmental conservation as a core component.
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“Earlier, the approach was relief-centric, but now, the goal of ‘zero casualty’ has been successfully achieved and the focus has shifted from relief-centric to a comprehensive and integrated approach,” he said.
He emphasised the importance of anticipating future disasters, conducting advanced research, compiling global ideas in this field and adapting them to suit India’s geographical conditions.
Shah said the relief commissioners should prepare district disaster management plans for their respective districts within 90 days because until a district has its disaster management plan in place, it cannot respond swiftly in the face of a disaster.