U.S. Hosts Conference Session on Disaster Response Management

November 08, 2007

NEW DELHI –Today as part of the 2nd Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction hosted by the Government of India, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, organized a technical session on use of a professional disaster response management system for decreasing the impact of natural disasters and saving lives.

The session, chaired by J.K. Sinha, National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India with George Deikun, USAID Mission Director, shared best practices regarding the Incident Command System, an emergency management system that facilitates rapid government response to emergency situations. Originally used by the U.S. Forest Service in managing forest fires during the early 1970’s, the Incident Command system has been adopted around the world for managing all types of disasters and is being specially adapted to the Indian context with support from USAID.

Mr. Rajesh Kishore, Chief Executive Officer of the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, one of the states now implementing the Incident Command System for disaster response, shared his experience with the system along with participants from Australia, China, Mexico, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.