A book which highlights Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts in bringing about a "paradigm shift" in India's disaster management was officially released by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in Dehradun on Tuesday.
The book, 'RESILIENT INDIA: How Modi Transformed India's Disaster Management Paradigm', was released at the sixth World Congress on Disaster Management, a statement said.
Edited and compiled by Bluekraft Digital Foundation and Modi Story, which highlights various facets of Modi's personal and political journey on social media, the book credits him for bringing about a "gigantic shift in India’s disaster management paradigm".
It includes changes in approach to helm different dimensions of disaster management, including resilience, preparedness, capacity building, community participation and disaster risk reduction.
"It is a window to see through the efforts to understand Narendra Modi’s approach towards creating a Resilient India, the journey of India from being vulnerable to more prepared and resilient," the statement said.
During the Morbi dam breach in 1979, which had claimed thousands of lives, Modi, then 29 years of age, led the disaster management activities of the RSS as the organisation's pracharak, it said.
"It was his initial first-hand experience in a disaster-handling exercise. From his experience in Morbi, the comprehensive idea of a resilient nation took root in his mind," it noted, adding that he put his experience into use in handling the aftermath of the Kutch earthquake in 2001 which had claimed more than 13,000 lives.
He first worked as a volunteer and then spearheaded the massive efforts to rebuild and develop Kutch after becoming the chief minister of Gujarat in the same year.
"Gujarat became the first state to enact a law for disaster management - ‘Gujarat State Disaster Management Act 20023’, which became a precursor to a national law in 2005," the statement said.
The book goes into details of Modi's handling of the 2015 Kashmir floods and the Covid outbreak in 2020.
-With PTI Input
