Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more severe, and their true impact on people, families and communities is beyond just numbers.

In a recorded message played at the 6th edition of the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), the Prime Minister said, “Countries must invest in resilient infrastructure today for a better tomorrow. Resilience needs to be factored into new infrastructure creation and it also needs to be a part of post-disaster rebuilding after disasters.”

“As we all have witnessed, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more severe. The damage they cause is usually reported in dollars, but their true impact on people, families and communities is beyond just numbers.

“Earthquakes destroy houses, making thousands of people homeless. Natural disasters can disrupt water and sewage systems, putting the health of people at risk. Some disasters can impact energy plants, leading to potentially dangerous situations. These things have a human impact,” Modi said.

He said nature and disasters have no borders and disasters and disruption cause widespread impact in a highly interconnected world.

“The world can be resilient collectively only when each country is resilient individually. Shared resilience is important because of the shared risks. CDRI and this conference help us come together for this collective mission,” the prime minister said.

Citing the high risk of disasters in small island developing States, Modi said countries must support the most vulnerable to achieve shared resilience.

“CDRI has a programme which is funding projects across 13 such places. Resilient housing in Dominica, resilient transport networks in Papua New Guinea and enhanced early burning systems in the Dominican Republic and Fiji are some examples,” Modi said. It is heartening that CDRI also has a focus on the global south, he said.

The prime minister said that during India’s G20 presidency, a new disaster risk reduction working group was formed with financing at the heart of the discussions.

Along with the growth of CDRI, such steps will take the world to a resilient future, he said.

Modi added that the growth of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure has been impressive in the last few years.  Launched in 2019, CDRI is now a global coalition of 39 countries and seven organisations.

Investment in infrastructure suffered setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic years, and the recent rebound has been highly unequal, with developing countries falling behind, P K Mishra, the principal secretary to the Prime Minister at the conference.

He said disaster and climate risks are increasing and countries will be forced to divert more funding to recovery and rebuilding if they do not build resilience in the infrastructure systems.

“During the pandemic years, investment in infrastructure suffered setbacks, and lately, we observe sustained revival. However, this rebound is highly unequal, with developing countries lagging. We must ask ourselves why?” he said.

Mishra said research by CDRI has shown that the annual investment required to address the infrastructure deficit, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reach net zero and strengthen resilience by 2050 amounts to USD 9.2 trillion.

“If we do not design resilience into our project pipelines, it will be increasingly difficult to achieve the high levels of funding needed to close the infrastructure deficit, particularly in the global south,” he said.

Mishra said the prime minister has given a clarion call to make India a developed country, and many other countries in the global south are also aiming at becoming developed countries or developing faster.

“In all these cases, a lot of infrastructure is going to be built. Therefore, ensuring disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure systems, particularly in the context of uncertainties posed by a changing climate, is a shared global challenge,” he said.

Mishra said India recognises that closing the infrastructure deficit and doing so in a manner that all new infrastructure is resilient go hand in hand.

He said the investment made in infrastructure in the country over the past two decades has created better livelihood opportunities for millions of citizens, and this progress needs to be sustained.

“The infrastructure we build today needs to be resilient to present and future disaster risks for decades,” he said.

Mishra urged the participants of the conference to focus on creating opportunities for better articulation of infrastructure challenges faced by the global south. He sought the conference to find new ways to mobilize finance and incentivize investments in resilient infrastructure in the global south.