Principal Secy to PM stresses need to enhance disaster preparedness

Principal Secretary to Prime Minister PK Mishra on Tuesday highlighted the need for faster disaster preparedness and response to minimise the loss of human lives during such incidents. He also urged states to focus on low cost, but high impact interventions to mitigate the risks of disasters.

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Mishra was addressing the valedictory session of the two-day annual conference of relief commissioners and state disaster response forces (SDRFs), organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

He pointed out that preparedness in the wake of a disaster was not a matter of hours, but that of minutes, as every minute taken in mobilisation and starting relief operation counts. Therefore, the speed of disaster response should be faster, he said.

Mishra said that a lot still needed to be done on early warning systems for certain disasters, especially as disasters are found cause much greater loss. Citing the example of droughts, he said that these had the potential to severely affect lives and livelihood. Besides, urban flooding solutions needed to keep in mind the local geographical and climatic conditions, he added.

“These days, lightning has emerged as one of the natural calamities with the greatest number of casualties. Hence, our mitigation efforts should be re-calibrated to tackle these kind of disasters. States should focus on low cost but high impact interventions,” Mishra said.

The Principal Secretary highlighted that preparedness and awareness was crucial for tackling increasing uncertainty on the occurrence of disasters. As the hazard and vulnerability landscapes are changing, it is imperative for the states to enhance their preparedness levels too, he added.

For better transition from an approach that was focused on relief and response, to one based on preparedness and mitigation, states need to institutionalise lessons they have learnt from past tragedies, he said.