Be prepared to deal with disasters caused by terrorist attacks. This was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s message at the second Asian Ministers’ Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction here on Wednesday.“The threat of terrorism looms large in many parts of our region and could trigger disasters across borders,” he said, inaugurating the conference. The warning is significant in view of apprehensions that terrorists could resort to chemical or biological warfare. Only last month, the Prime Minister had reviewed preparedness to deal with such strikes at the first meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).Natural disasters were not the only cause for concern. Modern societies need to come together to tackle manmade disasters, whether industrial or caused by terrorist attacks, the Prime Minister said. “The biggest disaster that we may yet prevent from happening is the catastrophic effect of global warming and climate change,” he said. Here, actions of one nation could affect many other nations, he stressed. “Disasters know no political boundaries and we are all equally vulnerable to them,” he said, stressing that nations had to find collective, cooperative solutions to the challenges.Though each country has to develop capabilities to deal with disasters, a national response alone is not adequate, the Prime Minister pointed out. He referred to the joint effort to create a Tsunami Early Warning System as a good example of “regional cooperation”. He urged the financial system to be “even more pro-active in insuring the risk-prone regions”. He also pointed out new kinds of “health disasters” like HIV and Avian Flu that have emerged as new challenges.
