Message from Director General

Message from Director General

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Dr. Rajiv Kumar Gupta, IAS - Retd. Dr. Rajiv Kumar Gupta, IAS - Retd. (Former Additional Chief Secretary to Govt. of Gujarat)
Director General, GIDM

Disaster risk has been steadily rising worldwide, much before the onset of the COVID-19 causing numerous sufferings and deaths. There has been an unprecedented growth in intensive and extensive risks due to human activities, resulting in more hazardous situations. As risks multiply, disasters have an escalating impact on communities and its systems, by making every individual susceptible to disasters. The effects of disasters are not confined to just one region as global effects can impact local areas,and vice versa.Furthermore, the impacts of disasters spread a cross different sectors, generating newer set of challenges.

Post 2015, the world saw the advent of three interlinked land marked agreements viz., Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Agreement on Climate Change (COP21) which bought the countries together to work towards risk informed sustainable development. These agreements provide the foundation for multilateral action to manage risk and promote sustainable development by 2030. These accords serve as the basis for global action to manage risks and promote sustainable development until 2030. India is one of the signatories to these international agreements, and as such, GIDM aims to reinforce disaster risk governance at the local level. This way, risk reduction activities become an essential part of day-to- day administrative affairs, and the capacities of stakeholders are strengthened to facilitate better responses.

It is widely recognized in various global forums that preventive actions are necessary to better understand and address disaster risks and invest in resilient communities and global systems. To achieve cohesion and inclusivity, new approaches are needed. The management of future risk scan be more effective, but only if action is taken now to revamp local, national, and global systems to prevent and reduce the underlying risks.

As such, I believe that it is our moral obligation to establish the necessary systems and platforms for knowledge management and sharing of experiences among stakeholders to increase awareness of disaster risk reduction and build a resilient society.

I strongly urge all stakeholders to join us in initiatives focused on building resilience through capacity development in the field of Disaster Risk Management (DRM).

- Dr. Rajiv Kumar Gupta, IAS (Retd.)
Director General, GIDM