09-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
India has emerged as global leader in disaster relief: PM's principal secretary
BENGALURU: Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr P K Mishra on Wednesday said that India has emerged as a key global responder in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations under the leadership of PM Modi.
Speaking at the Silver Jubilee Foundation Day of the Centre for Public Policy (CPP) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore on, Dr Mishra emphasised the pivotal role that institutions, legislation, regulation, and capacity building have played in transforming India's disaster management system over the last 25 years.
Delivering a special lecture titled 'From Gujarat to Myanmar: Evolution of India's Disaster Management Policy and Practice during the Last 25 Years,' he reflected on India's journey from being disaster-prone to disaster-ready.
India's disaster management reforms, he explained, were born out of catastrophic events such as the 1991 Odisha Super Cyclone, the 1993 Latur earthquake, the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. These events exposed systemic vulnerabilities but also became catalysts for change.
The Gujarat earthquake, in particular, became a watershed moment. The state's recovery programme, through the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA), introduced a comprehensive model of response, reconstruction, risk mitigation, policy formulation, and public awareness. This model was later mirrored in national frameworks and institutions, he highlighted.
