AIDMI discusses disaster control

The Disaster Management Bill, 2005, introduced in the Parliament in May 2005 was discussed by leading civil society organisations in Delhi and so far the Bill has attracted hardly any attention from any political party or NGO. The discussion was organised by All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI).

Shashidhar Reddy, former environment minister of Andhra Pradesh and recently appointed member of the National Disaster Management Authority of India, chaired the discussions.

Reddy said, "Such direct participation of civil society in the democratic processes is welcome and reducing risk needs everyone's contribution."

The Bill must address the concerns of women, tribals, and other isolated and vulnerable sections of Indian society" he emphasised.Mihir Bhatt, director, AIDMI, said, "The Bill is a big step ahead from providing relief to reducing risk but it must further directly focus on the risks faced by the poor among the victims".

Established in 1989 and registered in 1995, AIDMI, is a community based action research, action planning and action advocacy NGO working in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and other parts of India.

AIDMI works towards bridging the gap between policy, practice, and research related to disaster mitigation, in an effort to link the community to the national and international level humanitarian activities from response to mitigation to risk reduction stages.

Bhatt welcomed the NDM Bill, said it to be a historic moment in India's disaster management events.

The NDM Bill must directly focus on the poor among victims and aim at not only management but also direct reduction of disaster risks, he added. Sashidhar Reddy said that disasters slow down development of India and the NDM Bill provides legal platform to accelerate India's development.

Madhusudan Mistry further said that the NDM Bill must guide and finance states in reducing risks. The purpose is to promote safer economic growth, especially in tribal and less developed areas and not endlessly pays for losses.The World Food Programme suggested ways of avoiding transient hunger after a disaster from the hunger hotspots of India.

Mehul Pandya, Regional Risk Transfer Initiative, suggested to find ways of financing catastrophic losses through post and ante funds and stabilisation pools at local level.