GIDM launches 5 hours self-paced online course on the basics of disaster risk management (DRM)

The world is still grappling with the invisible invasion of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While the pandemic has re-iterated the urgent need of ‘Understanding Disaster Risks’ rather than merely ‘managing disasters’, it has also clearly established the fact that ‘managing disaster risk is everyone’s business’, i.e., Disaster Risk Management (DRM) is the responsibility of all of the society and all of its institutions. Realising the crucial role of the Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM) to foster a culture of disaster resilience amidst these difficult times and leveraging the virtual ways of learning imposed by the New Normal, GIDM has launched a 5 hours, self-paced, online / e-course on the Basics of Disaster Risk Management.

The content of the self-paced e-course has been developed by amalgamating the experiences from the field combined with the recent developments in the DRM leading to a 5 hours course. The units have been designed, keeping in mind, the Priorities for Action of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), starting with an exclusive element on understanding disaster risk and thereby moving on to understand the disaster risk management machinery (inclusive of the governance aspects as well as the financial elements) in the nation, with necessary emphasis on enhanced preparedness for effective response, and finally ending on establishing a comprehensive coherence of different international frameworks and agendas which is absolutely essential for developing a disaster-resilient sustainable development.