Why DMM?
Journal for Disaster Mitigation & Management

Against the backdrop of a world reeling under the impact of disasters, both natural and man-made and their growing frequency, New Media finds it duty-bound to launch a publication totally dedicated to disaster mitigation and management called DMM (Journal for Disaster Mitigation and Management). The new publication that you are reading further reinforces New Media's commitment to connect communities. The publication is a joint venture of New Media and the Global Forum for Disaster Reduction (GFDR). We are happy DMM is being launched at the inauguration of the three-day World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR), the first-ever meet to be held on an international scale in India. As you are aware, New Media has been committed to connecting countries through its various transcontinental publications, now numbering nine. Raised fundamentally on the fare of economy and bilateral trade, these publications have been in the forefront in bringing together business communities between India and other countries, significantly US, Canada, Australia and Switzerland and the regions of Africa and Latin America. In the course of the coverage of bilateral trade, we have highlighted with pride, factors conducive to economic growth and noted with concern issues that negate progress. Many external factors affect the global economy. These may include natural disasters, wars, famines, political uncertainties, economic policies and even stock market crises. Of these, man feels utterly helpless when faced with natural disasters. Can you imagine a giant tsunami wave, triggered by a massive earthquake, moving faster than a jet and wiping out populations along the coasts of 12 countries? It beats human comprehension. However, disasters of such magnitudes throw up global challenges. Ironically, disasters too bring communities together in facing challenges. Experience has shown that it has mostly been governments and global relief agencies that tackle the aftermath of disasters. Often these efforts fall short of public expectations. This is where the importance of private participation, especially of the corporate sector comes into play. In fact, the focus of the Mumbai WCDR is corporate sector's role and responsibility. We passionately feel that a dedicated forum, a publication to promote the public and private partnership in dealing with disasters is essential. Coming out of Mumbai, India's commercial capital, the bimonthly DMM is fully geared to interact with the corporate sector and play a positive role in connecting it to government and public sector agencies. The inaugural issue carries a world perspective and an India analysis of the issues related to disaster management by Anil Sinha, Chairman, GFDR and Consulting Editor, DMM. The highlights of the current issue include a brief picture feature on the Mumbai July deluge, which exposed the city's lack of preparedness to meet a disaster. There is an instructive article on how Japan copes with its calamities. We also carry the proceedings of the previous WCDR, held in Kobe and the Hyogo Declaration. Finally, we take the opportunity to humbly reiterate that DMM is borne out of commitment to a cause, namely to promote public private partnership in dealing with disasters.

Satya Swaroop
Managing Editor
satya@newmediacomm.biz