5th World Congress on Disaster Management (WCDM)

Context

Recently, the Defence Minister of India addressed the 5th World Congress on Disaster Management (WCDM) held in New Delhi.

Key-Points

• India - The First Responder
  • Underlying Vision: India’s vision for the Indian Ocean encapsulated by the concept of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region).
  • SAGAR has both distinct and inter-related elements such as-
    • Deepening economic and security cooperation among the littoral states.
    • Enhancing capacities to safeguard land and maritime territories.
    • Working towards sustainable regional development.
    • Blue Economy and promoting collective action to deal with non-traditional threats like natural disasters, piracy and terrorism.

• India’s unique position in the Indian Ocean Region, complemented by a capability of the Armed Forces, enables it to contribute significantly in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) situations.
• By contributing its resources to prevent or mitigate regional and international crises, India is demonstrating its commitment as a responsible actor in the international order.

About World Congress on Disaster Management

• WCDM is a unique initiative of Disaster Management Infrastructure And Control Society (DMICS) to bring researchers, policy makers and practitioners from around the world in the same platform to discuss various challenging issues of disaster risk management.
• Mission: To promote interaction of science, policy and practices to enhance understanding of risks and advance actions for reducing risks and building resilience to disasters.
• Four editions of WCDM have been held so far.

• • The first WCDM took place in 2008 in the Hitech city of Hyderabad.
  • The second WCDM was organised jointly with the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2015 in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam.
  • The third WCDM was held in 2017 in Visakhapatnam on a bigger scale to discuss the challenging issues of reducing risks and building resilience to disasters across sectors.
  • The fourth WCDM was organised in Mumbai jointly with Government of Maharashtra, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Tata Institute of Social Sciences.