Governor of Haryana Bandaru Dattatreya has observed that the country has been facing increasing cyclones, earthquakes, temperature rise and deluge as “we have failed in controlling deforestation and increased encroachment of water bodies including the river beds”.
Inaugurating a five-day meet on regional capacity development training – inspiring the minds for disaster risk reduction – organised jointly by National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, National Institute of Disaster Management and India Universities and Institutions Network for Disaster Risk Reduction here on Tuesday, he said capacity building was the need of the hour for practising disaster management and addressing gaps in the system.
He suggested that experts look into the issue and address the problems faced by farmers during cyclones in coastal areas to mitigate the impact. He mentioned that in November 2021, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved ₹2,135 crore for atmospheric and climate research, modern operating systems, to upgrade the forecasting systems, weather, climate, atmospheric observation network, study of monsoons, clouds and commissioning of weather radars.
Director General of NIRDPR G. Narendra Kumar recalled the Diviseema cyclone that struck Andhra Pradesh and wreaked a havoc. He spoke at length about the risk reduction measures and preparedness of the government to tackle such situations.
“For the last two years we have been fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a different kind of disaster, and we need to prepare for disasters like it to reduce the risk”, Mr. Narendra Kumar said adding that NIRDPR was working along with NIDM to identify the first responders and second responders at village level to counter disasters such as the COVID-19.
Prof. Santosh Kumar of NIDM explained about the objectives of the training programme and gave a brief outline of the research work behind the programme and also in building the curriculum. Prof. S.N. Labh of Asian Biological Research Foundation, Deputy Director General of NIRDPR Shashi Bhushan and others also spoke.
