2.5 lakh crore spent on disaster management in 11 years: Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: Around Rs 2.5 lakh crore has been spent in the disaster management sector over the last 11 years, increasing allocations for national and state disaster response funds manifold, home minister Amit Shah said while chairing the third meeting of the governing body of National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) Thursday.Shah said the process of creating digital disaster databases at national and state levels has begun, an obligation for all UN member states as decided in Sendai framework in 2015. "Disasters were viewed only from the perspective of relief and rehabilitation. Today, we have entered a new era based on three pillars - risk reduction, early warning systems and 'zero casualty'. "The minister said that "allocation towards the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) has increased nearly fourfold, while the allocation under the NDRF has increased nearly threefold". In addition, the 16th Finance Commission has also provided for Rs 2 lakh crore. He said the agriculture department should focus on permanent preparedness to deal with locust swarm attacks originating from the Pakistan side.