Russia gives Modi lessons in use of technology in disaster management

Moscow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday visited Russia's National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC), also known as EMERCOM, in Moscow and was given a rundown on how its works.

“Visit to EMERCOM was a great learning experience. Was shown aspects relating to disaster management & how technology is used in this field,” Modi tweeted following the visit.

“The NCMC is doing a big service to humanity. Their disaster prevention & response activities are laudatory,” he added. In a separate tweet, external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said that 240,000 employees from EMERCOM are on operational duty daily, using 62,000 equipment units. The NCMC is a multi-level coordination centre designed to provide inter-agency coordination and alert people about the threat of emergency situations. The capabilities of the NCMC include state-of-art real time monitoring, data collection, analysis and modelling. It uses global navigation satellite systems and global monitoring technologies based on remote sensing. NCMC processes information from across Russia and is capable of monitoring industrial facilities, crowded areas, tsunami threats and other natural disasters.

According to an official statement, Modi was given an overview of the actual functioning and real-time monitoring operations of the centre. He was informed in detail about the coordination among various disaster-relief agencies, which is done by this centre. The space monitoring and 3D modelling capabilities were also explained. The capabilities of the centre to monitor threats to human life and property, including natural disasters, both within and beyond Russia's borders, and its global sphere of cooperation were highlighted.

The prime minister took keen interest in the disaster prevention and response activities being coordinated by the Centre, as well as its global outreach. National Security Advisor AjitDoval, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, and Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar were among those who were also present. Modi, who arrived in Moscow on Wednesday and was hosted for a private dinner by Russian President Vladimir Putin, will attend the 16th India-Russia annual summit meeting later on Thursday.

A raft of agreements spanning a broad spectrum of sectors are expected to be signed following the summit-level talks with trade being a major focus area. Modi and Putin are scheduled to meet a delegation of Indian and Russian CEOs in the Kremlin. Modi will address a gathering of Friends of India and also meet members of the Indian community in Russia.