2nd India Disaster Management Congress 09 begins

New Delhi, Nov 4 : The second India Disaster Management Congress 2009 (IDMC) began here today to discuss the issues, challenges, shortcomings and opportunities in the field of disaster management.

Inaugurating the Congress, Gen N C Vij, Vice-Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority, said National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has come out with guidelines on various types of disasters and these need to be converted into actionable plans for the Ministries concerned to make the country disaster resilient.

Earlier, Union Home Secretary G K Pillai in his address said National Disaster Management Policy has since been approved by the government and will be made public very soon.

With a view to bringing about better awareness, disaster management has been inducted into the school education curriculum, he said.

Mr Pillai assured that all major recommendations coming out of the deliberations at this Congress will be followed up by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Social Activist Aruna Roy stressed the need for thorough transparency and accountability regarding the large projects which carry the potential of big hazards or disasters.

She said disaster-related issues needed to be addressed at three levels -- knowing disaster, management of disaster and post-management.

Earlier, while addressing the Congress, Member, PM's Council on Climate Change Nitin Desai pointed out that ''climate change was a big reason for us to focus on disaster management as with it the incidences of disaster would increase.'' ''The climate change will increase vulnerability (of human beings). The incidences of floods, droughts, cyclones will increase and along with that health problems will also rise,'' Mr Desai said.

Professor Emeritus A S Arya, IIT Roorkee, an expert in earthquake sciences, in his address said in the last 60 years enough researches and tests have been done to make safe and earthquake, cyclone or flood proof buildings and even old buildings and houses can be strengthened.

Prof Arya said safe new constructions and making the old unsafe houses, present in huge numbers in south-east Asia, strong enough to face the natural calamities must be the aim to look for.

Emphasising discrepancies in administrative system, he lamented that even the hospitals like AIIMS were vulnerable to earthquakes and despite several intimations nobody paid heed to the suggestions.

Mentioning about one of the government's premier projects Indira Awas Yojna, Prof Arya asserted that the government should ensure that whatever assistance it provide should be used in the construction of houses and it should also educate all the people about the significance of strong buildings.

UN Assistant Secretary General, Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlstorm said it was necessary to know and understand the most updated sciences relating to earthquakes so that future risks can be reduced and efficiency in providing relief can be increased.

Mr Amod Mani Dikshit from Nepal was presented the Disaster Mitigation Award in the individual category while Indian National Centre of the Science & Technology Ministry bagged the award in the institution category.

Among other dignitaries present on the dais were Secretary General, FICCI, Amit Mitra and Country Director, World Bank Roberto Zagha.

A number of issues pertaining to disaster risk reduction, management, emergency response and various cross cutting issues during disaster events would be the focus of discussion in this Congress.

The three-day Congress is expected to bring together 1,500 scientists, scholars and practitioners working on different aspects of disaster risk reduction and management across the world.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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