PRESS RELEASE

A special conference is being held to focus on the setting up of a

GLOBAL UNITED FUND, the worlds first $100 Million Fund to bring
Government and Private Sector together for Business Sustainability
through Disaster Risk Reduction.
To build up capacity of the nation in Disaster Management a strategic
alliance was formed between the Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and National Institute of Disaster
Management in September 2004.
The approach of disaster management earlier was reactive and relief centric.
India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on account of its
unique geo-climatic conditions.
Since then three National Level Workshops have been conducted at New
Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai and an International Conference on Spatial
Data Infrastructure and its Role in Disaster Management was held in
Chennai.
FICCI Secretary General A Didar Singh said: The need of the hour is to
increase private sector involvement in the disaster risk management.
Organized by FICCI, along with UNISDR, ARISE and NIDM, the first Private
Sector conference being held on sidelines of AMCDRR conference with focus
on private sector involvement sets out to create a concrete roadmap for
implementing resilience-building measures through innovative innovations
support by creation of a Global United Fund.
Harkesh Kumar Mittal, Adviser, Member Secretary, National Science
& Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), said
the Government does not know how to do business, academia does not know
how to do business, it only the industries which know how to do business. So,
their involvement is required as disaster creates opportunities in the fooding,
shelter and construction and rescue area.
Jesper Elsgaard, Senior Director, Global Governmental Affairs at
Bavarian Nordic A/S Copenhagen Area, Capital Region, Denmark
Government, spoke of the need for a wider international involvement to
share expertise and participate in fund raising to address major disasters as
and when they strike.
Sandra Wu Wen-Hsui, Chairperson and CEO, Kokusai Kogyo, Japan
shared Japans experience of dealing with earthquakes and quick restoration

afterwards. Japan is extremely proficient in tackling quakes and the damage

they leave in their wake.
The aim of these type of workshops has been to spread general awareness
and build up the capacity of the various stake holders in mitigation of
disasters. The participants included not only the captains of the Corporate
Sector but also from Government, Non-Government research institutions and
students of colleges/universities.
In the decade 1990-2000, an average of about 4344 people lost their lives
and about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year. The loss
in terms of private, community and public assets has been astronomical.
The Super cyclone in Orissa in October, 1999 and the Bhuj earthquake in
Gujarat in January, 2001 underscored the need to adopt a multi dimensional
endeavor involving scientific, engineering, financial and social processes; the
need to adopt multi disciplinary and multi sectoral approach and
incorporation of risk reduction in the developmental plans and strategies.

Dr Robert Muir-Wood, Chief Research Officer, RMS said, India has the
highest number of people exposed to flood risk of any country worldwide,
and the fastest increase in flood risk from development and climate change.
More than half of India by area is vulnerable to earthquakes, and almost forty
cities are at particularly high risk. The rapid expansion in population and
development in India is moving too fast to ensure adequate standards of
protection. The widespread damage from earthquake to ordinary buildings
recently seen in neighbouring Nepal, could equally be the outcome in many
cities in India.
Ms. Sayanaa Lkhagvasuren, Adviser to Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia said, In order
to sustainable development we will have to work on multiple level for disaster reduction. By
adopting public private model will have to develop secure business ship opportunity.
Sr Director FICCI, Nirankar Saxena said, September 2004 was a
landmark for Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
when it formed a strategic alliance with National Institute of Disaster
Management to build up capacity of the nation in Disaster Management.
Since then three National Level Workshops have been conducted at New
Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai . The aim of these events has been to spread
general awareness and build up the capacity of the various stake holders in
mitigation of disasters.The speakers for the conferences were well reputed
in their respective fields. The program was received well and a record
number of 750 - 800 participants attended. Our main objective is to reduce

the losses from the disaster such as flood, cyclone and earthquake. For this,
we have social responsibility as a our key responsibility not a charitable
work. In addition to public private model we should also focus on Publicprivate-government partnership model.
R. C. Sharma, Former Director Delhi Fire Services, Government of NCT Delhi said, We
should allocate 5% Budget to fire disaster in order to prevent all possible fire disaster in all new
infrastructure development. Is a time to introduce integrated information system through which.
we can get prior warning related to fire disaster.

For further information, please contact:

Simran Kumar, Tel: +91-9810591323, E-mail: simran@inclgroup.com
Manoj Kumar, Tel: +91-8447324124, E-mail: manoj@inclgroup.com