Pramod K Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister and Sasakawa Laureate for Disaster Risk Reduction said that the Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the need to learn from the traditional practice of disaster risk management and its relevance in the 21st century. He said this while delivering the first Professor Jai Krishna Memorial Lecture organised online by the Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management (CoEDMM), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.

He said that the resolve of Indians to bounce back from events that have caused a lot of human suffering and economic and environmental impact is inspiring.  India's efforts to combat cyclones have been lauded globally. However, there is a need for establishing a multi-tiered disaster risk system in each country and at the regional and local levels, he said.

Summarising his lecture, he said, "Risk is global but resilience in local. There is a need for a systemic resilience by building redundancies, a strong feedback mechanism and a robust modular system at the local level."

Special representative to UN Secretary-General and Head, UNDRR, Mami Mizutori congratulated IIT Roorkee for the initiative. She said, “Late professor Jai Krishna was a giant of earthquake engineering. There is a need to put people at the centre of the narrative as disaster management is not a technical but political issue. Political leaders need to be involved in it as disasters lead to massive human suffering."

Guest of honour on the occasion and Jai Krishna’s son, professor Prem Krishna and the institute director AK Chaturvedi also expressed their views on the occasion.