A two days India-UK workshop on Science for Disaster and Emergency Risk Management was inaugurated today in Delhi by Dr. P. K. Mishra, Additional PS to the PM. The key objective of the workshop is to share the Indian and UK advise mechanisms and practices for using science and technology in the management of emergencies and disasters. In his inaugural address Dr. Mishra stressed that in an increasingly interconnected world, the disaster and emergency risks are becoming more complex and intractable. Therefore, it is of vital importance that India and UK work together to optimize the application of scientific and technological capabilities in order to understand, reduce and manage disaster and emergency risks which have grave implications on life and economy of nations.
Prof. K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to GoI informed that the interactions will focus on presenting both countries respective scientific and technological apparatus for mitigating disasters proactively with the aim to facilitate adoption of best practices by identifying new opportunities and building upon the existing Indo-UK collaborations on science and technology. The selected risk areas of interest to both countries including case studies covering Science for Disaster management, Risk assessment for resilience, Science for epidemic preparedness, Science for extreme weather events, Geophysical hazards including earthquakes and landslides and Civil nuclear safety including modelling of radiological release will be covered in the two-day dialogue.
The event is organised by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, GoI along with the National Disaster Management Authority in partnership with the UK Governments Office of Science. Prof. Robin Grimes former Chief Science Adviser of the Foreign & Commonwealth office who is leading the 6 member UK delegation remarked that this workshop can help to provide a robust mechanism for evidence-based science advise to the respective governments based on sharing complementary scientific and technological strengths and strategies. Kamal Kishore, Member NDMA informed that yesterday the Indian Cabinet has approved the launch of a Rs 480 crores global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure which will provide an excellent platform to collaborate with UK and other countries.