NEW DELHI: Disaster diplomacy is the new buzzword in the Narendra Modi-led government which is closely working with Pakistan along with six other member-countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) in raising a common disaster response force, on the lines of UN peace keeping force, for specialized response to natural and man-made disasters.

New Delhi has already pledged two battalions of its National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to be part of the Saarc’s rapid response force, a framework for which has already been signed by the eight nations. Pakistan has been taking greater interest in the project as it can hardly afford to be left behind in the India-led initiative in strengthening regional bond on a key sensitive issue where other countries are looking up to New Delhi for capacity-building.

India’s initiatives and its capacity-building have already been recognized by the UN which had in November this year designated Union minister of state for Home Kiren Rijiju as the disaster risk reduction champion for the Asia region.

“Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan have already requested India to provide specialized training to their personnel and help in raising a specialized force like the NDRF,” said Santosh Kumar, director of the National Institute of Disaster Management in the home ministry.

Kumar, who is also the director of the New Delhi-based Saarc Disaster Management Centre, said the home ministry has accepted the proposals of these countries and may soon impart training and capacity building support to their forces.

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s key aide and additional principal secretary P K Mishra is the man behind the government’s greater push towards disaster diplomacy. Mishra recently participated in a deliberation on “disasters without borders—regional resilience for sustainable development” and spoke about key strategies in achieving this goal.

Kumar said India has also volunteered to host the Saarc common disaster response force at its Delhi-NCR facility where it already has a training centre for its 10- battalion strong NDRF comprising of over 11,500 soldiers drawn from its paramilitary forces of BSF, CRPF, CISF, SSB and ITBP.

After the Nepal earthquakes in April this year, New Delhi had organized one of the biggest rescue and relief operations in the Himalayan nation. However, India had even then actively engaged Pakistan at the highest level in strategizing rescue efforts, said a senior home ministry official. The engagement has since continued, he added.

New Delhi also hosted the first joint disaster management exercise of the teams from the eight Saarc nations in Greater Noida in a real-life scenario bringing down a multi-storeyed concrete structure. This was aimed at resilience building towards earthquake and chemical emergencies.