N ew Delhi, March 15 Home Minister Rajnath Singh has assured Japan and Russia of “bilateral cooperation in disaster management” during bilateral meetings at the 3rd UN World Conference on disaster risk reduction, an official here said.

The home minister exchanged views in bilateral meetings with ministers of Japan and Russia at the UN World Conference in Sendai in Japan, it was stated in a statement here on Sunday.

Congratulating Japanese minister Eriko Yamatani for disaster management, Singh assured her of “India’s support in achieving a forward looking substantive outcomes from the conference”.

Singh noted the exemplary courage and resilience of the people of Japan and expressed solidarity in their reconstruction efforts after the Japan earthquake of March 2011.

Yamatani acknowledged contribution of the 46-member Indian National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which was one of the foreign teams to arrive in Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011.

“The two ministers exchanged views on possible bilateral cooperation in the area of disaster management, police training and modernization,” the statement said.

The home minister also met the Russian minister for civil defence Puchkov Vladimir Andreyevich and exchanged views on enhancing the ongoing cooperation in dealing with emergency situations, natural disasters as well as encouraging greater institutional linkages between research and training institutes in the area of disaster management.

“The two ministers also discussed possible use for space-based technologies for averting natural disasters and their management,” said the statement.

The home minister also visited the town of Onagawa, where India’s NDRF team assisted the Japanese authorities in their search and rescue mission from March 26 to April 7, 2011 after a tsunami ravaged the area.

He was received by Onagawa mayor Yoshiaki Suda, who briefed him on the devastation caused by the earthquake and the resultant 20-metre-high Tsunami.

“The mayor expressed appreciation for the contribution of the Indian NDRF and called it as an empowering force,” the statement said.