India, June 7 -- Courses, modules and skill development programmes on disaster resilience need to become part of higher education, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday at a two-day conference, organized by Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure in Nice, France, laying down five key areas for disaster preparedness.

"Including disaster resilience in higher education will help build a skilled workforce that can tackle future challenges. Secondly, many countries face disasters and rebuild with resilience. A global digital repository of their learnings and best practices would be beneficial," Modi said, in his video address.

Thirdly, disaster resilience requires innovative financing, Modi emphasised. "We must design actiona...