Disaster management a developmental issue: Rajnath

Disaster management is no longer about disasters but has instead become a developmental issue, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday.

"Our government is committed to converge disaster risk reduction with developmental programmes. Disaster management is not an issue of disaster alone (but) rather it has now become more of developmental issue," Singh said after an India-Russia joint commission meeting here.

The Russian delegation was chaired by Russia's Minister for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination Consequences of Natural Disasters, Vladimir Andreevich Puchkov while the Indian side was headed by Rajnath Singh.

The two sides discussed deepening of cooperation in disaster mitigation and management.

During the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction last year in Sendai in Japan, India and Russia agreed to enhance cooperation in dealing with emergency situations, natural disasters, research and training, Singh said.

India is one of the most disaster-prone countries, with floods, droughts, cyclones and landslides common hazards.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said that cooperation in disaster management would initiate a new era of friendship between India and Russia and enable both sides to work in close proximity.

He said India will benefit from the state-of-the-art technology that Russia has created to monitor natural disaster situations in real time.

"India has adopted an integrated approach to ensure sustainable and inclusive development. We are making consistent efforts to include disaster mitigation features into the new development programmes, including revisiting some ongoing development schemes for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction," Rijiju said.