Two-day meet on disaster risk reduction to begin tomorrow

Subject experts, practitioners, academicians and other stakeholders will deliberate on various issues to curb the risk of disasters at a seminar beginning here tomorrow.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) which will be attended by over 1,000 distinguished guests including union ministers, parliamentarians, heads of local self government, heads of specialised disaster management agencies besides others.
The NPDRR is a multi-stakeholders national platform headed by the home minister and it promotes participatory decision making in disaster management and strengthens federal policy of the country.
The NPDRR meet will be held over two days on May 15 and 16 on the theme "Disaster Risk Reduction for Sustainable Development: Making India resilient by 2030", an official statement said.

The meeting will have a plenary session, one session on outcomes of pre-events, four technical sessions on four priority areas of Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction, one technical session on monitoring of Sendai framework and a closing cum valedictory session.
Besides, there will be an exclusive ministerial session after the inaugural ceremony, where ministers from the Centre, States and Union Territories will deliberate on various aspects of disaster risk reduction.

As a build up to this meeting, 14 pre-events were organised by the National Disaster Management Authority and National Institute of Disaster Management on various issues of disaster risk reduction.

A slogan contest was also organised by the Union home ministry to generate disaster awareness among the common public.
More than 500 applicants from different parts of the country have submitted their entries.
The home ministry with the help of the NITI Aayog has also organised an online call from startups and innovators in the areas like fire fighting, GPS-based solutions, search and rescue operations, reconstruction, low cost shelter etc. In MyGov.In for display during the NPDRR meet.
More than 300 applications have been received and 10 of the shortlisted start-ups will showcase their innovations in the exhibit area during this meeting.

The meeting is held at a crucial juncture, after adoption of Sendai framework in 2015 and Asia Regional Plan for disaster risk reduction in 2016, the statement said.
This NPDRR will be an ongoing effort of the government to provide a roadmap for making India disaster resilient by 2030.