Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said people need to work together to reduce disasters by 2030 at the launch of the 4th World Congress on Disaster Management at IIT Bombay on Tuesday.
Researchers, academics, experts, policy makers and other stakeholders attended the Congress, which is being held for the first time in Mumbai. The theme of the Congress is ‘The future we want: bridging gaps between promises and action’ and the focus is on discussing the formidable challenges in implementation of the 2030 development agenda.
‘Affects all humanity’
Mr. Fadnavis said, “There was a time when every disaster was considered an ‘act of god’. Now we know ways of preventing disasters and implementing them. Disasters don’t just have an effect on the city, but all humanity.” He said people could no longer work in silos and disaster management has now become an important topic of discussion at world forums.
The Chief Minister said that though 52% of the State is drought-prone and received only 84% rain last year, schemes like Jalyukt Shivar has helped achieve a productivity of over 185 lakh metric tonnes. He also emphasised on the role of technology and innovation in managing disasters.
Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation and Public Works Chandrakant Patil called the Congress “a churning from which interesting ideas flow”. He said the State’s measures had helped rehabilitate residents of Malin village in Pune after a landslide in 2014. A compendium of research papers on disaster management was released at the Congress, which will end on February 1. The next Congress will be held in Delhi in 2020.
The Disaster Management Initiatives and Convergence Society was established in 2005 after the tsunami to enhance understanding and awareness of disaster management and mitigation measures. The first Congress was held in 2008 in Hyderabad and inaugurated by former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Two meetings were later held in 2015 and 2017 in Visakhapatnam.
