Over 50 pc population lives in disaster-prone areas: Rajnath

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday described India as one of the most disaster-prone nations, saying more than 50 per cent population of the country lives in areas that are vulnerable to calamities.

Singh said the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction has been set up by the government to finalise a national strategy to deal with all kinds of disasters in coordination with state governments and other stakeholders.

"India is one of the most disaster-prone nations in the world. More than 50 per cent population in the country lives in areas which are prone to earthquakes, floods, cyclones, droughts and tsunami," he said while inaugurating a meeting organised by the National Disaster Management Authority.

The meeting was attended by ministers from state governments, officials of the state disaster management authorities, top civil and police officials dealing with various disasters and representatives of non-government organisations.

On the occasion, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that the Centre had amended the 50 per cent crop damage parameter to 33 per cent for claiming crop insurance due to natural calamities. "The national platform was set up so that it can work effectively for disaster risk mitigation along with various stakeholders," Singh said.

The home minister said India has learnt lessons from the 1999 super cyclone in Odisha where 10,000 people had lost their lives, the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat and the 2004 tsunami and brought a paradigm change in its approach towards disaster risk mitigation.

"We have been working in a planned manner for disaster risk mitigation that includes adopting the Disaster Management Act in 2005, disaster management policy in 2009, raising national disaster response force besides others," he said.