Items: 109
As fears for the thousands of people missing following the recent floods and landslides in India's Uttarakhand state, environmentalists and experts pose the question: was it a man-made disaster? They attribute unplanned development and deforestation as a chief cause for the disaster...
'A small farmer has lost control even over his seed, he buys fertilizers. He is more vulnerable to impacts of climate change. Crop insurance may cover input costs but not the 'man-days' lost that are crucial. In India adaptation measures should be designed with inputs from communities,' said Praveen Singh, assistant professor of human ecology at Ambedkar University...
In a recent review of India's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found the body 'to be quite ineffective,' reports The Times of India. The CAG report cites failures to complete a national database for seismic hazard, and draws attention to states which are poorly prepared for handling disaster situations...
'It’s the unplanned settlements with substandard structures and construction material that are most prone to heavy damage even in moderate shaking during an earthquake event. What needs to be understood is that an earthquake in itself normally does not kill, it is the collapsing buildings that do,' reports The Times of India...
'We need to make sure that urbanization is allowed after careful planning and keeping in mind spatial distribution. Development needs to happen away from the city. Also, stronger weather forecast systems are needed and so are evacuation facilities for dwellers of low-lying areas,' says Subimal Ghosh, an associate professor in the civil engineering department of IIT-Bombay...
In India's Bihar State the Disaster Management Authority has initiated a public awareness campaign for disaster mitigation and risk reduction and will be organizing two flood preparedness workshops in collaboration with UNICEF...
'Magnitude of the impact of climate change on wheat production in India assessed through simulation studies indicated that an increase in 1 degree Celsius mean temperature, would not cause any significant loss to wheat production in India, if simple adaptation strategies such as change in planting date and varieties are used'...
Reminding of the seismic activity of the Himachal geographical area, the urban development department cautions against the magnitude of unplanned growth that increases risks of a disaster in waiting as more and more high rise buildings come up in the hills and town planners grapple with over 6,000 structures that have violated building laws...
Voluntary Commitments
The organization has no registered commitments.
The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.
Contact information
Fax:
+263-4-331-748