The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is planning to develop a uniform and credible database on man-made and natural disasters in collaboration with global bodies like the UNICEF and the UNDP, the Home Ministry said today.

The issue was discussed at a workshop organised by the NDMA with participation of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

The two-day workshop is aimed at developing a consensus among various stakeholders on disasters and thresholds, and to develop standardised systems for data collection, updation and validation to ensure accuracy and quality, an official spokesperson said. Such a database would help track our progress towards achieving the targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR).

Once ready, this database would be able to provide real-time disaggregated data, and this granular data would lend itself to generating evidences and analyses, which would help plan interventions that build disaster risk resilience. “It is the first step towards developing a national disaster management information system that can provide real time information to various stakeholders for relief and rehabilitation response, policy interventions, planning and research for risk-informed development planning,” NDMA member R K Jain said.

United Nations Resident Coordinator, India, Yuri Afansiev emphasised on the need to understand implications of disasters, especially in a country as vast as India. “There is a need to integrate the proposed database to various development frameworks and goals allowing policy-makers to receive reliable information, analyse it and reach conclusions to take policy decisions,” he said.

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