“Central and State Governments, the community, civil society organisations and media have a key role to play in achieving goal of safe India,” said Fire Advisor Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India D K Shami at the function organised by Dr T M A Pai Center for Disaster Management to observe International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction at Manipal on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Shami opined that hazardous, both natural and man-made are inevitable their effect can be minimised by preparation. He called for a “multi pronged strategy” for total risk management comprising prevention, preparedness, response and recovery on the one hand and initiating development efforts aimed towards risk reduction and mitigation on the other.

He informed about Eleventh Plan’s shift in focus from response centric disaster management to disaster mitigation which brings with it an obligation to give impetus to projects and programmes that develop and nurture both, the culture of disaster safety and integration of disaster prevention and mitigation in to the development process.

MIT  Director S S Pabla in his welcome address said “disasters come unannounced, all of us should accept the fact that we cannot prevent the damage that the natural disasters wreck on mankind,  however careful planning and positioning of knowledge, skills and resources can help us in reducing the effects to a great extent.” Manipal University Pro-Chancellor Dr H S Ballal presided over the function. Dean Faculty of Architecture Prof (Dr) N K Garg and Prof Raveendra Deshmukh were present.