We must develop technology to anticipate disasters like landslides: Kishan Reddy

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy on Thursday called for developing technology to anticipate disasters like landslides and develop infrastructure to quickly respond to minimise the damage here.

While addressing the first International Conference on "Landslides Risk Reduction and Resilience" here, the minister said, "Landslides have attracted global attention as they may cause huge havoc on communities, livestock, environment leading to huge loss of lives."

Adding that landslides can destroy the structures of our culture and heritage and erase the cultural and historical identities of the people, Reddy said, "On one hand landslides effect loss of infrastructures-roads, buildings, bridges, communication systems, etc, on the other, they may lead to stagnation of human activity and mobility."

While mentioning about the government initiatives to make India disaster-resilient and to reduce landslide loses, Reddy said, "Since the adoption of the Disaster Management Act 2005, the government has taken a number of initiatives to strengthen the resilience capacity of all the stakeholders at different levels."

He said, "Our experience shows that the above initiatives could help us only to an extent. But for us to become a disaster-resilient nation, we still need to go a long way."

Calling for making extensive collaborative programs involving the international community and all the stakeholders at national, state and regional levels to tackle natural disasters, the minister congratulated the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) for organising the first of its kind conference in the country.