India will go the extra mile for disaster risk reduction: Modi

Calling upon the world community to work unitedly towards disaster risk reduction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India is ready to work with other countries to build disaster-resilient infrastructure.

Inaugurating a three-day "Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction 2016" here, Modi said India is even ready to share its space technology and resources with any country to deal with disasters across the globe.

"We need to think big and innovatively," he said while talking about the effect of disasters on economic growth.

Modi also called upon the participating nations to encourage and prepare women for disaster management work.

"Encourage women in disaster management programmes. We have large number of women to support ... (disaster) affected women," he told the huge international gathering at the India Gate lawns here.

Giving a 10-point agenda to deal with disasters, the Prime Minister said a network of universities should be developed to effectively deal with disasters.

"Develop network of universities working together on disaster risk management," he added.

Modi also urged the authorities responsible to deal with disasters to learn from age-old local practices and implement the same effectively.

The Prime Minister further said that "Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030" will be taken forward from here.

About 4,000 representatives from 61 countries, including Pakistan, are participating in the event.

Speaking on the occasion, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Asian region is vulnerable to all kinds of natural disasters and the countries must work together on disaster risk reduction.

"Disaster risk reduction is a collective responsibility," the Home Minister said, adding that disaster in one country is bound to affect the other.

"We commit ourselves to work with other countries in the region to deal with disasters," Singh added.

The Home Minister also expressed gratitude towards countries participating in the conference which has been organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the National Disaster Management Authority.

--IANS

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