Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai presided over the valedictory session of the 1st ‘National Conference on Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience (CDRR&R) – 2020’, organised by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), in New Delhi today. The one-day conference focussed on enhancing human capacity in terms of better understanding about coastal disaster risks and effective collaborative actions, by implementing Prime Minister’s 10-point agenda and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, for reducing the risk and enhancing the resilience amongst the affected stakeholders.The aim of the conference was to explore and debate the most recent advances in the discipline, to enhance the understanding of the issues and solutions on various facets for coastal disaster risk reduction and resilience. It also emphasised on dissemination of information related to national and local strategies for coastal disaster risk reduction and resilience as well as to develop a network mode roadmap for addressing the gaps by engaging with the institutions, researchers and experts. More than 175 participants from various central and state organisation/departments attended the conference.In his address, Shri Rai highlighted the major interventions carried out by Ministry of Home Affairs for Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience based on the PM’s 10 Point Agenda on DRR. Further, he added that the conference has generated a wealth of information and experience. The conference has been able to identify scope, advantages and limitations as well as issues, challenges and opportunities in managing coastal disaster events including the ethical perspectives.
Shri G. V. V. Sarma, Member Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was the Chief Guest of the inaugural session of the conference. Shri Kamal Kishore, Member NDMA provided insight on the severe impacts of coastal disasters on overall economy growth of the country and exhorted mainstreaming the coastal disaster risk reduction and resilience strategies with growth and development activities. Major General Manoj Kumar Bindal, Executive Director, NIDM said that NIDM will document the outcome of the conference and will continuously stride towards making coastal areas of the country disaster resilient through research and training on the gaps identified during different sessions of the conference.14 knowledge partners, including Ministry of Earth Sciences, India Meteorological Department, Geological Survey of India, Central Pollution Control Board, Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, World Food Programme, Jadavpur University, Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management, Prasar Bharati, All India Radio, Doordarshan, National Academy of Broadcasting & Multimedia, DD India, News On air App, SPHERE India, Indian Red Cross Society extended technical support for organising the conference.
Other dignitaries of the inaugural session include Dr. Mrutyumjay Mohapatra, DG IMD; Dr. R. K. Bhandari, Distinguished Professor IIT Roorkee, Maj. Gen. Manoj Kumar Bindal, VSM, ED NIDM and Prof. Surya Parkash, Head GMRD, NIDM. The inaugural session was followed by one plenary session, two round table discussions and two parallel sessions involving all the delegates and experts. The sessions have been chaired by Shri Rajendra Singh, Member NDMA, Dr. Pradeep Kumar, Special Secretary and Project Director, National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project of NDMA, and Shri P.P. Shrivastav, Member, Advisory Committee, NDMA.