Disaster Response Management Seminar to be held in India

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in cooperation with the Government of India, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) is convening a Seminar on Management of International Disaster Response in New Delhi on 14-15 June.
The Seminar, the first of this kind to take place in India, will be attended by approximately 120 participants form the Central Government, State Governments and the Armed Forces of India. It will provide a forum for Indian decision-makers to familiarise themselves with international response systems in the context of natural disasters, environmental emergencies and technological accidents, including international assets which can be made available, and procedures for their deployment.

The Indian authorities have traditionally assumed responsibility for response to the many disasters that have affected and heavily impacted this large and populated country. When, on 26 January 2001, an unprecedented earthquake struck India's western State of Gujarat, killing approximately 20,000 people and injuring 165,000, the Government of India facilitated the receipt of international aid.

The Seminar will be an opportunity for the Government of India and its UN partners to share lessons learned and best practices in order to increase response capacities to disasters in the future, both in India as well as within the region.

The Seminar will prepare the ground for a larger international meeting, to take place later this year, which will also address broader issues of disaster preparedness, mitigation and reduction.