Fatalities due to natural calamities reduced to 1 pc: Rajnath

New Delhi, Oct 10: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the percentage of deaths due to natural calamities has come down to less than one per cent, owing to better prediction technologies and disaster management system. After the inauguration of Disaster Management session of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) here, Mr Singh said because of climate change, the occurrence of natural calamities, including floods, earthquakes and storms had increased, and was expected to rise further in the future. However, the latest technology used for predicting and managing the nature's fury, had mitigated the loss caused by these calamities to less than one per cent, he added. Talking about the BIMSTEC countries, which include Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal, the Union Minister said they need to understand the geographical statistics of each other and their rivers. If the nations set higher stats, the low-lying areas will get time to prepare for floods, leading to decreased loss of life and property, the Minister pointed out. He gave the example of Bihar, which faces floods every year due to heavy water flow in the tributaries of river Ganga, flowing from Nepal. Mr Singh said Odisha suffered lesser damage during Cyclone Hudhud in October 2014, as compared to the Super Cyclone of 1999, due to early prediction of the cyclone. During this four-day event, the BIMSTEC countries can share their experiences and learn from each other, so as to tackle the natural disasters in a better way, he added. More than 3.17 lakh people had died during 1996 to 2015, while 1.06 crore people had been rendered homeless due to natural calamities in these countries, Mr Singh said. UNI