A national consultative meeting on management of preventing natural disasters that take place in the South Asian countries kicked off in the capital on Wednesday. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bamdev Gautam attended the inaugural function of the meeting organised by the European Commission (EC). The meeting will dwell on the issues including risks generated by the natural disasters and preventing the loss caused by them. The participants at the meeting said that Nepal has more risks of natural disasters compared to other countries due to its geographical structure, environmental change, fluctuation in geo-level and rapid population growth. They suggested the government to target awareness programmes at the rural areas. The EC said that it will bring other programmes to raise awareness in the South Asian countries. Due to increasing urbanization, the South Asian countries have risk of natural disasters such as earthquake. Moreover, landslide in hilly and Himalayan areas and floods in the plain areas trouble these countries every year.