Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said there is need for a resourceful, capable and pragmatic National Disaster Management Agency to tackle natural calamities like tsunamis, earthquakes and cloudbursts.
"There should be a resourceful, capable and pragmatic National Disaster Management Agency at the Union government level.
"Such an agency should be at the beck and call of all state governments at the time of high magnitude and unforeseen natural calamities like tsunamis, earthquakes and cloudbursts," Omar said interacting with Probationary Indian Forest Service (IFS) Officers here.
During calamities of bigger magnitude, all states look for help from the Union government and armed forces for rescue and relief measures, he said.
Therefore, a high powered and high capacity Disaster Management Agency at the national level is needed to be actively available to the states to cope up with calamities in a befitting manner, Omar said.
"This high capacity agency could help the states as is the case in the United States during calamities of huge dimension.
"Individual states can manage calamities of smaller dimension but not like those of Uttarakhand, earthquake in Jammu and Kashmir in 2008 and the Leh cloudburst in 2010." he said.
Underlining the importance of balancing development needs of people with environment necessities, Omar said the unchecked and illegal infrastructure development, particularly in tourist areas, at the cost of environment is fatal and responsible for massive damage and causalities during natural calamities.
PTI
