World Congress on Disaster Management (WCDM) is a unique initiative of DMICS to bring researchers, policy makers and practitioners from around the world in the same platform to discuss various challenging issues of disaster risk management.

The mission of WCDM is to promote interaction of science, policy and practices to enhance understanding of risks and advance actions for reducing risks and building resilience to disasters.

Four editions of WCDM have been held so far. The first WCDM took place in 2008 in the Hitech city of Hyderabad. Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India inaugurated the Congress while Y S Rajasekhara Reddy former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh presided over the inaugural function. More than 1000 delegates representing various national, provincial and local governments, UN bodies, scientific and technical organizations, universities, civil society organisations, corporate sector and media attended the Congress.

The second WCDM was organised jointly with Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2015 in the coastal city of Vishakhapatnam The Congress focused on the need for coordinated research and action involving all stakeholders for holistic management of disasters in all its cycles - during pre-disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness; on-disaster response and relief; and post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.

The third WCDM was held in 2017 in Vishakhapatnam on a bigger scale to discuss the challenging issues of reducing risks and building resilience to disasters across sectors. The Congress adopted the Visakhapatnam Declaration and Plan of Action for building resilience across seven pillars.

The fourth WCDM was organised in Mumbai jointly with Government of Maharashtra, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Tata Institute of Social Sciences. More than 1500 participants from 68 countries attended the event spread over 9 Plenary Sessions, 63 Technical Sessions and 6 Special Feature Events.

The fifth WCDM was organised in Delhi jointly with Government of National Territory (GNCT) of Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Disaster Management Initiatives and Convergence Society (DMICS) Hyderabad, in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM). More than 1200 participants from 60 countries attended the event spread over 7 Plenary Sessions, 50 Technical Sessions and 5 Special Feature Events.

WCDM has emerged as the largest global conference on disaster management outside the UN system.