Amit Shah attends 17th Foundation Day celebrations of NDMA

New Delhi, Sept 28: Union Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah attended the 17th Foundation Day celebrations of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as the Chief Guest in New Delhi today. The theme of this year's Foundation Day is 'Stopping Impact of Disaster Incidents in the Himalayan Region'. On this occasion, Amit Shah released the training manual of Aapda Mitra Scheme and plan documents of Aapda Mitra and Common Alerting Protocol. In his address, Shah said that NDMA and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) as its implementing agencies have, in the last 17 years, changed the history of disaster management in the country. The work has been done to link the sensitivity of the country with disaster management and this is a great achievement. He said that in a country of 130 crore people, where every state has different weather, many rivers, mountains, long coastlines, in this situation if we are not able to see the sensitivity of the public and society, the introduction of scientific systems to avoid disasters and If we are not able to prepare the mindset to percolate these arrangements down, then we have to be prepared for huge loss of life and infrastructure. But a lot has changed in this field in last 17 years.            Speaking about the two new initiatives launched by NDMA – Aapda Mitra and Common Alert Protocol –  Amit Shah said that the Aapda Mitra scheme is very important. He said that NDMA should study the research or good practices to reduce the risk of disaster across the world and take them to the people by adapting them according to the circumstances and challenges of our country and adapting them into a methodology. Shah said that despite several efforts and best facilities provided by the government, it is difficult to take immediate action by agencies like NDMA, NDRF and SDRF as soon as a disaster strikes. He said that no matter how many arrangements have been made, it is natural to take some time to reach from one place to another in such a large country. If in a few moments, immediate action is to be taken at the time of disaster, then only trained disaster friends in the country, society and village-village can do it and this is a very good concept.