AIDMI contributes India’s humanitarian work in Asia and the Pacific

UN OCHA regional Humanitarian forum, 2013 was held at Bangkok, 28 to 29 May 2013. Over 50 individuals from humanitarian sector in the region discussed newer approaches to understand risks from natural disasters. All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) was invited to present newer approaches to understand risks from natural hazards in the region. AIDMI built its presentation on what citizens of India are doing at local level to reduce risk. The need for integrating local approaches with international approaches was realised. Participants also discussed approaches to integrate international humanitarian actors with local challenges. Focus on woman, children and casual labour in low income communities exposed to disasters was demanded by AIDMI. The focus on developing innovative risk transfer mechanism & community preparedness requires more attention than crisis response. Participants agreed on need to establish an enabling environment for Humanitarian Innovation and integrate it in current risk reduction efforts across the globe. Citizens of India can contribute to these regional processes as well as benefit from it.