First India-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction

What: India-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction

Where: New Delhi

When: March 19-20 ( 2018)

• NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman, Dr. Rajiv Kumar inaugurated the First India-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction in New Delhi on March 19, 2018.
• The two-day workshop (19-20 March) is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Government of Japan.
• The Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog underlined the synergy between the two ancient Asian civilizations of India and Japan, both of which have frequently witnessed the fury of natural catastrophes and are investing proactively on mainstreaming risk reduction into development.
• As per the Vice Chairman, this workshop “marks the beginning of formal implementation of the initiatives agreed under the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the two countries on Disaster Risk Reduction in September 2017”.
• He stated that uncontrolled development without proper disaster risk assessment has increased the risk of losses from disasters. He added that climate change has further aggravated the disaster risk. He emphasized that disaster risk management can no longer remain isolated from the overall strategy of sustainable development.
• Sendai on Disaster Risk Reduction, Paris on Climate Change and in New York on Sustainable Development Goals were also discussed.
• Six-pronged approach: Dr. Rajiv Kumar talked about reducing disaster risk by strengthening resilience, through a six-pronged approach namely:
  1. Risk Identification,
  2. Risk Reduction,
  3. Preparedness,
  4. Financial Protection,
  5. Resilient Reconstruction and
  6. Societal Awareness.
• Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. P. K. Mishra appreciated their consistent global leadership in this area from the early days of the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) to Yokohama Strategy, to Hyogo Framework to the current Sendai Framework.
• He mentioned that in line with the Prime Minister’s announcement during the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in 2016, India is working towards a global coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. He complimented Japan for their active cooperation on this initiative and also emphasized long standing collaboration between the two countries in DRR at various levels.
• Fifty delegates from Japan including experts from government, technical institutions, private sector and 70 delegates from India participated in the Workshop.