Need proactive approach to minimise damage from natural disasters: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday pitched for a "proactive rather than reactive" approach and the use of future technologies in handling natural disasters to minimize damage.

Inaugurating the third session of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) here, the prime minister said, "We cannot stop natural disasters but we can come up with systems to minimize damage from them."

"We have to be proactive rather than reactive. What was the situation in the country (earlier) for being proactive and what is the situation now? Even after five decades of Independence, there was no law in the country to tackle disasters," he said.

He said that after the 2001 earthquake in Kutch, Gujarat was the first state to come up with a disaster management act. On the basis of this act, the Centre enacted the National Disaster Management Act in 2005, he said.

Subsequently the National Disaster Management Authority was set up.

The prime minister said traditional housing and town plan