Over 55,000 Lives Saved Last Year In Disaster Management Efforts NDRF Gets Two More Battalions

Secretary (Border Management) in the Ministry of Home Affairs Ms Sneh Lata Kumar inaugurated the Annual Conference of Relief Commissioners/ Secretaries, Department of Disaster Management of States/UTs to review the status of preparedness of dealing with crisis situation resulting from the South West Monsoon-2014, here today. Speaking on the occasion Smt. Kumar said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been raised from 10 to 12 battalions. She said more than 55,000 lives were saved in the wake of Uttarakhand cloudburst and Cyclone Phailin that struck Odisha coast last year as a result of better preparedness and prompt rescue and relief efforts in disaster mitigation. 

In his address Shri SN Mohanty, Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said due to advances in weather forecasting priorities have changed from post-disaster relief centric to avoiding a calamity. He pointed out six states were yet to formulate State Disaster Management Plans while the rest 22 have put such mechanism in place. Presiding over the inaugural session, Shri GVV Sarma, Joint Secretary (Disaster Management) lauded the minimal loss to human lives during cyclone Phailin due to better and precise weather forecasting and close coordination among various disaster response agencies. 

The Annual Conference was organized at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi to discuss Disaster Management issues ahead of the setting on of the monsoon this year. 

Representatives of different Ministries/Departments/Organizations including the NDMA, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Central Water Commission (CWC), India Meteorological Department (IMD), NDRF, Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Ministry of Defence took part in the daylong deliberations.