US envoy Garcetti urges rapid action in disaster preparedness, advocates global cooperation

They also expressed concern that although progress has been made, there remains room for improvement in aligning global and national financing priorities to adequately address disaster risk.

In an interactive session at the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure in Delhi, US Ambassador Garcetti and Kamal Kishore, Member and HOD of India's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) shared insights on disaster mitigation strategies and collaboration between nations.

Ambassador Garcetti highlighted the importance of balancing funding for both pre-disaster mitigation efforts and post-disaster relief. He stressed the need for quick dissemination of ideas and resources, advocating a bottom-up approach that empowers local communities in reconstruction efforts. Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, he stressed the importance of learning from communities and sharing information rapidly across borders.

“Internationally, nationally, we have to be much quicker to share ideas,” said Ambassador Garcetti. “And locally, I think we also have to reverse course, empower ourselves to realize that we are the ones who will rebuild.”

While Kamal Kishore stressed the need for transparent communication and cooperation between government institutions and the public. Citing examples of recent disasters in India, he stressed the importance of sharing information in language that is understandable and actionable.

“Some of us who work on disaster risk management really need to get past the jargon and get better at communication,” Kishore said.

Both speakers also highlighted the growing collaboration between the United States and India in disaster resilience efforts. Ambassador Garcetti praised bilateral relations, highlighting initiatives such as CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure) and the TRIDEP program, which aims to provide training and assistance to third countries.

“It's the trilateral, quadrilateral level, for example, the trilateral development cooperation that we're doing…it's really about changing the international approach to climate disaster preparedness,” Garcetti explained.

The dialogue between Ambassador Garcetti and Kamal Kishore underlined the importance of international cooperation and community-driven approaches in building disaster-resilient infrastructure.