Union Minister
of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju, Co-Chaired the High Level
Round Table 2 at the 6th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster
Risk Reduction in Bangkok yesterday. Making India’s Country Statement, the
Minister highlighted the pre-emptive steps taken by the Government of India in
evacuating more than one million people before the Cyclone ‘Phailin’ hit the
eastern coast of India in October, 2013. He expressed India’s commitment to
reduce disaster risk in a planned manner and shared the various measures being
taken by the Central and State Governments of India in this regard. The
Ministerial segment was attended by the Ministers and Heads of delegation of 41
countries.
The Minister
also chaired the Plenary session of the Conference on ‘Improving Public
Investments for Disaster and Climate Risk Management’. Panel members during the
plenary included Ministers from China, Australia and Representatives of
Pakistan, Japan and the UN. The panel highlighted the improvements in disaster
and climate risk management and recommended the need to include risk
considerations in all investment planning processes and sectoral development
plans.
Following is the
extract of the address made by Shri Kiren Rijiju, delivering the country
statement:
“At the
outset, on behalf of my country, I would like to congratulate the Royal Thai
Government on the successful convening of the 6th Asian Ministerial
Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. I heartily appreciate the warm
hospitality extended to us.
It
is an honor to be a part of this important Conference as this is an occasion
for consolidating our strategies to move forward after the completion of Hyogo
Framework of Action 2005-15. This Conference also assumes importance in the
context of the third United Nations conference on disaster risk reduction which
is slated for 2015. We from India, would like to share our experiences with
other countries and in turn, learn the various approaches and good practices
elsewhere on Disaster Risk Reduction. We hope
that the sharing of the experiences and learning would help us to ensure the
resilience of communities and safety of the people’s livelihoods and assets.
Events like the Tsunami in Japan of 2011, the Cyclone ‘Haiyan’ in the
Philippines of 2013 and the floods and landslides of June 2013 in Uttarakhand
and the Cyclone Phaillin of October, 2013 in India have highlighted the need to
step up the preparedness efforts.
In
India, we have established the required institutional framework for disaster
management. Our Parliament enacted the Disaster Management Act in 2005. The
Government of India has announced National Disaster Management Policy in 2009.
Our National Disaster Management Authority has issued hazard- specific
guidelines. The Disaster Management Authorities have been established not only
at the National level, but also at the State and District levels. We have
already set up the National and State Disaster Response Funds. We have also
raised the National Disaster Response Force, which is fully equipped to support
the requirements of the primary responders in the States. We have ensured a comprehensive
consultation process with the concerned Ministries, based on which the National
Disaster Management Plan has been prepared, with the components of disaster
mitigation, capacity building as well as disaster response. The State
Governments are also preparing their State Disaster Management Plans. In
addition, each Ministry of the Government of India prepares their own sector-
specific disaster management plan. We have developed an institutional mechanism
to see that all new projects are cleared only after it is ensured that disaster
risk reduction concerns have adequately been met.
We
took an important step by establishing our National Platform for Disaster Risk
Reduction, for intense consultations and sharing of experiences by various
stakeholders and disaster managers. The First Session of the Platform held in
2013, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India for strengthening
community resilience.
We
have developed large scale community based programmes for all sectors like
education, health, livelihood, employment, housing, food security, agriculture
and drinking water to increase the coping capacity of the community in dealing
with disasters. We are making efforts to mainstream disaster reduction measures
in the development programmes. Recently, we have taken a giant step forward by
earmarking 10% funds in all our development schemes to be used for innovation,
disaster mitigation and restoration. In addition, the private sector is also
playing an important role through corporate social responsibility.
Our
civil defence, home guards, State Disaster Response Force and the civil society
organizations including the Indian Red Cross Society provide a well coordinated
regime of high state of preparedness.
Coming
to the scientific and technological advancement for better forecasting
capabilities, we have come a long way by preparing vulnerability atlas, setting
up of Indian national Centre for Ocean information Services. We have community
hubs of the Indian Space Research Organization for early warning. We have the
Central Water Commission to provide flood monitoring and flood forecast
reviews.
Ladies
and Gentlemen, during the June 2013 event in Uttarakhand, we took up a massive
effort and successfully brought over 150000 pilgrims to safety, despite a
difficult mountainous
terrain, very adverse weather conditions and severe
disruptions in the road connectivity. During October 2013, over 1.2 Million
people were evacuated and brought to safety, before the cyclone ‘Phailin’ made
the land fall. Ladies and gentlemen, I would request to appreciate that these
capabilities do not come overnight automatically: It called for long years of
patient, determined and concerted efforts by multiple organizations. It
required channelising of technological developments into community based
preparedness. It needed creation of infrastructure like multi-purpose cyclone
shelters. It was also required to see that those assets were utilized by the
communities during the ‘non-disaster’ phase. We have made sure that the
socially disadvantaged groups, senior citizens, the disabled, women and
children receive adequate attention in all the preparedness efforts, mock
drills and rehearsals.
Disasters
cause impact beyond the political, social and economic boundaries globally.
There has been an increase in the natural disasters over the past few years.
India is highly vulnerable to natural hazards particularly earthquakes, floods,
droughts, cyclones and landslides and a number of human-made disasters. Our
country has witnessed several disasters in the past, which have caused great
misery and sufferings. They have also given us the opportunities to bring
institutional improvements. It is a continuous process to keep improving in
this regard.
Before
concluding, I would like to reiterate India’s commitment to enhance community
resilience at all levels. India will continue its determined efforts in this
regard. India will play its role in the regional cooperation.”
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see photographs:
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KSD/PK/