Centre for Disaster Management Studies (CDMS), IP University, organised a webinar on twin disasters — Amphan and COVID-19.

Inaugurating the webinar online, the Vice Chancellor of the university, professor Mahesh Verma said that there are major risks involved in handling of multiple disaster emergencies and stressed on the need for effective implementation of the stringent rules and regulations. “Rules and regulations are in place for various disaster emergencies in our country. The need is that all the major stakeholders execute them on ground keeping in mind the catastrophic efforts of multiple disasters at one time,” he said.

Brigadier LC Patnaik, Chairman, Odisha PSC, gave a descriptive account of the topic with respect to the aspects of governance, management, resources and the coastal states which were affected due to the super cyclone. He stressed upon the need to analyse strategies and develop synergised frameworks that can be enacted in handling such challenging times.

Major General R C Padhi, former Additional Surveyor General of India, articulated on how GIS and remote sensing technologies can be a force multiplier in managing a crisis situation.

Anil Sinha, former Vice Chairman, Bihar SDMA, gave light on the finer nuances of how the state administration can formulate customised plans for every specific region within the state with respect to their hazard profile.

Experts from National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) elaborated on the policies, framework, implementation, last mile connectivity and resilient infrastructure development in the given reference.

The webinar was an attempt to pave the way for refining, aligning and mainstreaming our approaches to strengthen resilient to deal proactively with disaster situations in future.