New Delhi [India]: Outlining a ten-point agenda for renewing efforts towards disaster risk reduction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said all development sectors must imbibe principles of disaster risk management and encourage greater involvement and leadership of women in disaster risk management.
Inaugurating the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi said, “2015 was a momentous year! Apart from Sendai Framework, international community adopted two major frameworks to shape future of humanity. They are the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.”
“Over the last two decades, the world and especially our region has undergone many changes- most of them positive. The Asia-Pacific region has been a global leader in more ways than one,” said Prime Minister Modi.
“We now have a fully functional Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System. The same goes for improvements in cyclone early warning. If we compare impact of cyclone events in 1999 and 2013, we can see the progress made,” he added.
Elaborating on the ten point agenda, Prime Minister Modi said, “First, all development sectors must imbibe the principles of disaster risk management. Second, work towards risk coverage for all-starting from poor households to SMEs to multi-national corporations to nation states. Third, encourage greater involvement and leadership of women in disaster risk management. Fourth, invest in risk mapping globally. For mapping risks related to hazards like earthquakes, we have accepted standards and parameters.”
“Fifth, leverage technology to enhance the efficiency of our disaster risk management efforts. Sixth, develop a network of universities to work on disaster issues. Seventh, utilize the opportunities provided by social media and mobile technologies. Eighth, build on local capacity and initiatives. Ninth, opportunity to learn from a disaster must not be wasted. After every disaster there are papers on lessons that are rarely applied. And tenth, bring about greater cohesion in international response to disasters,” he added.
Prime Minister Modi said that a quarter century ago, only a handful of Asian nations had national disaster management institutions.
“Today, over thirty Asian countries have dedicated institutions leading disaster risk management efforts,” he added.
“We have to wholeheartedly embrace the spirit of Sendai which calls for an all-of-society approach to disaster risk management.”
This is the first major inter-governmental event after the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR).
Scheduled to be held from November 3-5, the conference will pave the way for implementation of the framework in the Asian region and will also devise a mechanism for monitoring its progress.
The Sendai Framework, adopted at the third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in March, 2015, is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda and identifies targets and priority action areas towards reducing disaster risk.
India is committed to address issues concerning DRR and strengthen resilience to disasters and to realise this, Prime Minister Modi launched India’s first National Disaster Management Plan, designed in line with the priorities defined in the Sendai Framework, earlier this year.
On the closing day, the conference will adopt the New Delhi Declaration, a political commitment of participating governments towards preventing and reducing disaster risk.(ANI)