Disaster preparedness workshop held in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, May 31: The first-ever national workshop on “Disaster Risk Governance with focus on Disaster Preparedness Index” was held on Monday at the Centre for Good Governance (CGG). The national workshop was organized by CGG, in association with IIIT and NIDM, New Delhi. Eminent scientists and policy-makers like Mohan Kanda, IAS (Retd), Kamal Kishore, Member, NDMA, Prof. CVR Murty, Director IIT Jodhpur, Dr R.K. Chadha, Emeritus Scientist, NGRI, were part of the workshop. Devi Prasad, Director, CGG, opened the proceedings and facilitated the event along. The eminent scientists were part of the workshop to deliberate and discuss on the issues concerning the aspects relating to governance of disaster risks in the country. Kamal Kishore spoke and joined via teleconferencing facility all the way from New Delhi. The experts presented their views on disasters and what actions needed to be taken with respect to mitigation and preparedness measures, elucidated with the help of best practices and examples. Atulya Mishra, IAS, Principal Secretary, Commissioner, Revenue Administration, Government of Tamil Nadu, has explained about the Chennai floods and how many lives were saved as a result of interventions and planning measures. Similarly, Prof. Murty, Director of IIT, Jodhpur, presented his views on the earthquake scenario in India and offered concrete suggestions. The session was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Dr Pradeep, Prof. and Registrar, IIIT-Hyderabad, in which there was a freewheeling of ideas. Mohan Kanda, IAS (retd), one of the driving forces behind the workshop, recommended a roadmap to be put in place with specific, actionable timelines and for each of the experts to actively contribute to the process.