New Delhi, March 16 The Government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that the National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) is rendering logistics and financial support to State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and other agencies in view of natural disaster and calamities.
Responding to a question, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said the primary responsibility of disaster management rests with the state government concerned but the central government, wherever required, supplements the efforts of the state governments by providing logistic and financial support in cases of natural disasters of severe nature.
He also said that at present, NDRF has 16 battalions, which are located as per vulnerability profile of the country to provide immediate response during disasters. NDRF is equipped with state of art equipment to provide specialist response to a threatening disaster situation or disaster.
"As per the National Policy on Disaster Management, raising of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and equipping them rests with the state and union territories governments concerned, the central government has been pursuing with the State/UT Governments to raise SDRF and equip them with adequate disaster response capabilities," Rai said.
To facilitate the state governments, the Central Government has also shared the list of disaster response equipment with them, with the request to equip their SDRF in line with NDRF, he added.
The Minister also said that the NDRF organises an annual conference of SDRF, including other stakeholders concerned, and provides an opportunity to share best practices to improve the response capabilities through mutual cooperation and coordination in case of any disaster.
He also said that MHA has been organising the annual conference of Relief Commissioners and Secretaries of the Department of Disaster Management of States and Union Territories to review the status of preparedness to deal with disaster or impending disaster situation before the South-West Monsoon.
"NDRF regularly conducts mock drills, exercises involving SDRF and other stakeholders. These mock drills, exercises provide a platform for effective coordination between NDRF and SDRF, he further said, adding that NDRF is relentlessly engaged in 'Community Capacity Building' and public awareness and preparedness programmes.
NDRF renders necessary assistance for capacity building of the SDRF and the Centre has established a premium institute NDRF Academy at Nagpur to impart training to NDRF personnel and other stakeholders, including SDRF.
The Government with its continuous efforts has significantly improved its preparedness to deal with the natural calamities. With the coordinated efforts at various levels, the disaster response mechanism has improved substantially and the loss of human lives due to natural disasters has been substantially reduced in the country, Rai added.
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