Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, Muzaffar Ahmad said that the advances made in science and technology should be put to use to reduce the impact of natural disasters on the loss of the human life and public and private properties.
Speaking at the inauguration of the two-day Karnataka Science and Technology Academy conference on “Science and Technology for Disaster Management” organised jointly by the Central University of Karnataka and Karnataka Science and Technology Academy (KSTA) in Kalaburagi city on Thursday, Dr. Ahmad said that there has been a paradigm shift in relief work after natural disasters as compared to the preventive measures to limit damage before natural disasters, in the country in the recent years.
Dr. Ahmed said unlike in other countries, India had the advantage of the entire nation backing relief works in the affected areas and this was witnessed during the devastating floods in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, cyclone ravishing the Indian coastline in Andhra Pradesh and Odhisha.
The advances made in space technology has made it possible for forewarning exactly when the cyclone would hit the coast and about impending floods and preparing people for facing such situations and taking up relief works afterwards.
Member Secretary of the KSTA and senior scientist, H. Honne Gowda said that weather conditions in India were responsible for the recurring natural disasters like floods, droughts and minor earthquakes. “Impact of the loss on the economy and environment due to the natural disasters was enormous and impact of the natural disasters was high in India because of increase in the population”.
Every year on on average 4,500 people died due to the natural disasters and the loss to the public and private properties is enormous”. In Karnataka the loss due to the recurring floods and droughts in the past one decade was more than Rs 75,000 crore. He said that the technology available should be upgraded to make it more reliable in pinpointing the exact timing of the crossing of the cyclone over the Indian coast. Ïf the cyclone prediction is accurate by 95 per cent in USA it was 75 per cent in India”.
Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Karnataka, Prof. M.N.S. Rao in his presidential remarks said India was most vulnerable for natural disasters in the world and not a single year passes without a major natural disaster. As per one estimate the country spent every year more than Rs. 1,000 crore on disaster management and the loss suffered due to the forest fire in a year alone was Rs. 440 crore.
More than 350 delegates from different parts of the country were participating in the two day deliberations
