Friday, 21 October 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Preparing in advance is the only way to mitigate the damage caused by disasters. Stating this, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the conclusion reached in various workshops on disaster management held in the State should not be limited to theory but also prove useful when actual disasters strike. The conclusions reached in such workshops should also be communicated to the chief minister’s office on time so that such experiences can be put to timely use. He stressed that more focu should be laid on practical aspects than theory when it comes to disaster management. He said this while participating virtually in a workshop on reducing risk: capacity building in the mountain States organised by National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and Uttarakhand Academy of Administration, Nainital on Thursday.
Speaking at the workshop, Dhami said that Uttarakhand and other Himalayan States are very vulnerable to disasters. The challenge to tackle disasters in the mountain States has intensified due to the risks resulting from climate change. Climate change has increased the rate of melting of the glaciers while sources of drinking water are also drying out on a large scale. He said, “Learning lessons from the 2013 Kedarnath disaster and the subsequent disasters in Uttarakhand, the State’s disaster management department will be able to devise a system based on its own experience and cooperation of relevant institutions, which will be helpful for Uttarakhand and also other States in the time of disaster. After the Kedarnath disaster, the State government laid special focus on medical facilities, strong communication system, all-weather road, construction of helipads and construction works including urban planning. After the disaster, Kedarnath reconstruction work was undertaken on war footing under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
He expressed hope that the NIDM will cooperate with Uttarakhand and other States vulnerable to disasters in capacity building. The institute can provide technical and other assistance to Uttarakhand and other mountain States for capacity building in disaster management, said the chief minister.
Noted environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Nainital MLA Sarita Arya, historian Shekhar Pathak and various officials and experts were also present in the workshop.
