Foreign secretaries of the seven members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) approved the plan at a meeting in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

The decision was due to be endorsed at this weekend's SAARC summit, to be attended by the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"All the members have agreed to India's proposal to host a SAARC disaster management and preparedness centre in New Delhi," Bangladesh's additional foreign secretary A.H.M. Moniruzzman told journalists.

The plan gathered momentum following the Asian tsunami which battered three member nations last December and last month's devastating earthquake in Pakistani and Indian Kashmir.

More than 47,000 lives were lost as a result of the tsunami in Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan, while 73,000 people died in the October 8 quake in Pakistan and a further 1,300 perished in Indian territory.

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