India, Japan to explore cooperation in disaster management

India and Japan on Sunday explored the possibility of bilateral cooperation in the areas of disaster management and police training and modernisation.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is currently in Japan to participate in the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, met Japanese Minister for Disaster Management Eriko Yamatani on the sidelines of the ongoing event.

According to a release by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Singh assured Yamatani of India's support in achieving 'forward-looking substantive outcomes' from the conference and noted the exemplary courage and resilience of the people of Japan and expressed solidarity in their reconstruction efforts after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

During their talks, Yamatani acknowledged the contribution of India in the rescue efforts during the disaster.

Singh also met Russia Minister for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters Puchkov Vladimir Andreyevich on the sidelines of the conference. In their meeting, the two leaders discussed the enhancement of the ongoing cooperation in dealing with emergency situations and natural disasters, as well as the possible use for space-based technologies for the same.

The National Disaster Response Force was one of the foreign teams to arrive in Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, which left over 15,000 people dead.