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Our Bureau

Mumbai , Dec. 27

BIRD flu is on the watch list of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), as it has been recognised as a major threat, said Mr Shivraj Patil, Minister of Home Affairs, on Monday at a seminar on disaster management.

NDMA has also met officials from the Health Ministry and are keeping a watch over the situation.

Addressing the delegates at the seminar, Mr Patil said that India would need about Rs 15,000 crore to deal with the tsunami disaster and another Rs 20,000 crore for other disasters that struck the country over the past one year.

"But funds alone are not sufficient to overcome the difficulties. New technologies can help to reduce the time and cost required to reconstruct the affected areas." Mr Patil said.

Since the tsunami devastation of December 26, 2004, India had to face 10 major natural and man-made disasters. Over the past one year worldwide disasters killed more people than the on-going war in Iraq and other areas.

Commenting on weather forecasting, which would help in disaster mitigation, Mr Patil said that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) was adept in short-term and long-term forecasting. But it has not been successful with medium-term forecasting, which is important in such situations. It is still not possible to get an accurate forecast of a fortnight. However, the IMD is working towards solving the problem.

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