2nd World Congress on Disaster Management concluded; Visakhapatnam Declaration adopted

Second World Congress on Disaster Management (WCDM) concluded on 22 November 2015 at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

The four-day WCDM that started on 19 November 2015 was attended by over 1000 delegates from 40 countries and 20 states.

It was organized in collaboration with Disaster Management Infrastructure and Control Society (DMICS), with Andhra Pradesh government and various local, national, regional and international organisations.

The Congress ended with the adoption of 'Visakhapatnam Declaration’.

Visakhapatnam Declaration
• The Declaration calls for a comprehensive action plan for a disaster-resilient society.
• It recommended effective funding by creating national disaster mitigation fund for resource implementation of local plans
• It also recommended for building a platform of knowledge management/good practices/innovations at local level.
• It calls for global linkages to undertake cooperative studies among communities and local governance on evidencing climate change understanding and local commitments
• It calls for promoting private sector participation to strengthen humanitarian commitments.
• It moots for setting-up of an independent experts group with statutory powers like a state Disaster Management Authority for formulating policies on disaster management.
• The declaration listed out priorities and strategies for disaster management and preventive measures, which were learnt from previous experiences of Cyclones Phailin and Hudhud that struck Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in a span of one year.

The second World Congress on Disaster Management (WCMD) was organized six years after the first WCMD was held in Hyderabad in the year 2008.

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