'Real-Time Assessment Of Infrastructure Resilience Need Of The Hour': PM Modi At Disaster Management Meet

PM Modi said for 50 years after India’s Independence, there was no law to handle disasters and said the country needs to focus on technological innovation in disaster management.

New Delhi: Real-time assessment of resilience of local infrastructure is the need of the hour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.

Going vocal for local at the inauguration of third session of disaster risk reduction platform in Delhi, PM Modi said the system related to disaster management in India has always been local, the solutions have been local and the strategy has been local too.

“The people of Kutch live in mud houses called Bhunga. Kutch was the centre of a massive earthquake at the beginning of this century. But there was no impact on these Bhunga houses,” news agency ANI quoted PM Modi as saying.

PM Modi said for 50 years after India’s Independence, there was no law to handle disasters and said the country needs to focus on technological innovation in disaster management.

“We have to be proactive rather than reactive. Traditional housing and town planning process should be enriched with future technology to better manage disaster planning,” he added.

“We will have to strengthen the disaster management governance in urban local bodies. Urban local bodies will react only when disaster strikes, but this will not work anymore. We will have to institutionalise planning and we will have to review local planning,” PM Modi said, adding, “For the construction of buildings and new infrastructure projects, we will have to draft new guidelines keeping in mind the disaster management. There is a need for overhauling the entire system.”

Talking about the recent massive earthquake that devastated parts of Turkiye and Syria early last month, the Prime Minister said it is a matter of pride for the country that the world has appreciated the India’s work in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Home Minister Amit Shah lauded the work of the Indian relief and rescue contingent in Turkiye and Syria. 

During the programme, the prime minister also felicitated awardees of the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for 2023 -- Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) and the Lunglei Fire Station, Mizoram.

Notably, the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction saw the participation of guests, including union ministers, ministers of disaster management from states, parliamentarians, heads of local self-governments, heads of specialised disaster management agencies, academicians, representatives from private sector organisations, media and civil society organisations, among others.