NEW DELHI, Mar 22 (PTI) India and Russia today joined hands for minimising the consequences of natural calamities like floods and earthquakes.
Union Home minister Rajnath Singh and Russian minister for Civil Defence, Vladimir Andreevich Puchkov signed an MoU on cooperation in Prevention and Elimination of Consequences of Emergencies in the field of Disaster Management to acquire a new character with enhanced levels of cooperation in the field of disaster risk reduction.
Singh said the cooperation in the areas such as controlling floods, minimising its consequences as well as collaboration in capacity building has been rightly highlighted in the Joint Implementation Plan.
"We hope that with the signing of this plan, the two countries will acquire a new character with enhanced levels of cooperation in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction," he said.
Singh said India was one of the most disaster prone countries in the world.
The country is committed to convergence of disaster risk reduction with developmental programmes and disaster management is not an issue of disaster alone and has now become more of development issue, he said.
The Home Minister said the two countries are linked by geography, history and culture and the linkages in the field of disaster management have continued to grow beyond boundaries.
Union Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, who was also present said cooperation in the field of disaster management would usher in a new era of friendship that will enable both sides to work in close proximity in order to minimise the risk the two nations face due to increased frequency of natural calamities.
He said India has developed sufficient experience in handling disasters and has always been willing to extend technical and financial support to the neighbouring countries.
In the aftermath of Nepal earthquake 2015, India was the first country to provide humanitarian assistance and to lead the rescue efforts, he said.
He added that India was making consistent efforts to include disaster mitigation features into the new development programmes, including revisiting some of the ongoing development schemes for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction.
-PTI
