Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has asked states to strengthen their disaster response forces, SDRFs to save lives and property in times of disaster. Inaugurating the annual conference of state relief commissioners in New Delhi today, Mr Mehrishi also asked the states establish SDRFs where there is no such forces. He said, disasters are increasing in number and there is a need for better preparedness and putting comprehensive and improved risk reduction measures in place. He said, in the year 2015-16 twenty-one states and one union territory was severely affected by disasters in which 1500 people lost their lives and 16.5 lakh people lost their homes. He said, capacity building is also an important aspect for mitigating disasters.<br/><br/>Mr Mehrishi also asked the central agencies to give advance warnings through latest technologies at shortest possible time to mitigate disasters. He said, agencies must keep improving.