The Meeting of the IORA Cluster Group on Disaster Risk Management concluded successfully today, 6 February 2019. The Meeting resulted in the development of a draft Work Plan for DRM in IORA which includes a proposal to establish a DRM Core Group, among other objectives.
The two-day workshop was organised by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, NewDelhi, India.
Although in principle a meeting of only the four DRM Cluster Group Members, the event was attended by 8 IORA Member States. Participants included senior diplomats, experts, special invitees, high ranking officials of the navy, coast guard, NDRF, NDMA and IORA Secretariat officials.
Discussions were held on various topics including strengthening of regional cooperation, building international collaborations, research and information exchange, capacity building and capability enhancement, sharing of best practices, data and early warning technologies, among others.
The draft Work Plan is to be circulated among all IORA Member States for additional inputs, to pool into the finalization of the document.