JU to host awareness prog on seismic resilience

Kolkata: In memory of the catastrophic Bhuj earthquake, the Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management at Jadavpur University (JU) will organise an awareness programme focusing on earthquake resilience.

The event, titled ‘Learning from the Past, Preparing for the Future: Reflections on the Bhuj Earthquake’, will be held on January 18, Saturday. The initiative aims to provide participants with valuable insights into disaster risk reduction, explore new approaches in seismic resilience and community safety and enhance knowledge on earthquake disaster management.

Professor Gupinath Bhandari, co-ordinator of the Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management at JU, stated: “The Bhuj earthquake, which struck Gujarat on January 26, 2001, left a lasting impact. In its memory, we are holding this awareness programme, featuring speakers who have worked at ground zero and experienced the vulnerabilities firsthand.”

Key speakers of the event include Sujit Dasgupta, former deputy director general of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Kolkata, who will discuss ‘Scale of Vulnerability due to the Bhuj Earthquake: An Experience of the Calamity from Ground Zero’.

Ansuman Mitra, secretary of the Medical Service Centre, National Disaster Response Cell, will speak on ‘Health Hazards in the Bhuj Earthquake: An Experience from Ground Zero’, while professor Dipankar Chakravorty of the department of Civil Engineering, JU, will address ‘Earthquake Resilience to Reduce Vulnerability’.