JU to come up with a Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management

Kolkata: Jadavpur University (JU) will soon come up with a Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management with the intention of generating awareness about various disasters and suggest measures to reduce its impact.

"Our aim is to develop disaster warning systems including self-warning system and low cost disaster prediction system in the Indian context. There will be seminar and workshops where national level and international level experts from different universities and colleges across the globe will be invited who have been working in this area," said Professor Gupinath Bhandari, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, JU.

It may be mentioned that till date few institutions in the country have introduced courses on disaster management; however, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has approached all the institutions for institutionalisation of the Disaster Management course. The Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management has been proposed urging the university authorities to appoint a regular faculty of the varsity as its co-ordinator. The initial target group for the workshop will be government and non-government officials directly dealing with the disaster, those who cater their service to society.

"However, as disaster management has neither syllabus nor boundary, we will be welcoming all the members," Bhandari maintained.

The civil engineering department that has already organised a workshop on flood management that has seen active participation from various stakeholders is already in talks for collaborating with both the state and the Central government as well as industry for good interactive sessions.

"Two private companies have already approached us for a workshop on Structural Retrofitting. Structural audit and health check-up of buildings will be the main points for discussion. We will be showcasing how the strength of a particular building can be assessed through non-destructive process and accordingly suggest measures on how to equip it to withstand such disaster," a senior professor of civil engineering said. The university will gradually proceed towards institutional courses like Post Graduate and MPhil which are essential for manpower development in Disaster Management.

Research work will be carried out for prediction of any kind of predictable and rapid onset of disasters. However, in case of predictable and slow onset disasters, research will be carried out to estimate the time available and the remedial measures for the same. The Centre has got all the necessary permission and is awaiting the nod of the University Court to become fully functional.