New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stressed on adopting a ‘proactive rather than reactive’ approach and use of futuristic technologies to deal with natural disasters, so as to minimise losses. “We cannot prevent natural disasters, but we can put in place systems to mitigate the damage caused by them,” the prime minister said after inaugurating the third session of the National Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR).
“We have to be proactive rather than reactive. What was the situation (earlier) in the country to be active and what is the situation now? Even after five decades of Independence, there was no law in the country to deal with disasters.”
He said that Gujarat was the first state to bring disaster management law after the 2001 earthquake in Kutch. He said that on the basis of this law, the Centre had enacted the National Disaster Management Act in 2005.
After this, the National Disaster Management Authority was established. The Prime Minister said that traditional housing and town planning processes should be enriched with futuristic technology for better management of disaster planning. Real-time based assessment of the resistance strength of local infrastructure is time-consuming.
He elaborated that “identification” means understanding where disaster is likely. How can that happen in the future? Reform means developing such a mechanism so that there is minimum damage from disaster. The Prime Minister also stressed on setting new guidelines keeping in mind disaster management.