On Tuesday, Delhi became a signatory to ‘the global campaign on making cities resilient’.

The campaign has been launched by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in collaboration with the National Institute of Disaster Management and the Urban Development Ministry.

Cities including Thimpu, Dhaka, Karanchi and Colombo also became a part of the campaign on Tuesday.

The idea is to increase preparedness to face any disaster with effective planning. Urban local bodies in these cities will take a series of steps such as increasing awareness and adopting sustainable development practices to reduce the threat of disasters.

“The region of South Asia is witnessing an unprecedented urban growth mainly due to migration of people from rural areas. This has put very severe stress on urban infrastructure, housing and environment,” said Jaipal Reddy, minister ofurban development.

The two-day event is being attended by the mayors of south Asian cities including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan.