JICA team visited ASDMA to work on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Guwahati, Rongili Barta- A team of 6 members from Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA), Japan led by Dr. Kuwano Takeshi, visited Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) today in connection with the “Country focused training programme on enhancing disaster risk reduction and resilience building capacities of north eastern states of India”. This training programme is under implementation for building capacities of SDMAs of north eastern states of India as part of official developmental assistance of Govt. of Japan based on bilateral cooperation of India.
The programme is a joint collaboration with Centre for Disaster Management and Research (CDMR), IIT, Guwahati (IITG) and JICA. The team will visit a few flood, erosion and landslide affected areas in Barpeta, Kamrup and Kamrup Metro districts to understand the risk and vulnerabilities of these areas with the objective of potential project development for mitigation and prevention measures to reduce disaster risks in the region.
Dr. Ravi Kota, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Assam graced this discussion in presence of Gyanendra Dev Tripathi, IAS, Chief Executive Officer, ASDMA, Prof. Sudip Mitra, IIT Guwahati, Shri Sathya Kumar, Senior Consultant, NDMA, Shri Alakananda Medhi, ACS, State Project Coordinator, ASDMA and other senior officials of ASDMA.
Dr. Kota, in his speech, highlighted about the hazards and risks the State is prone to and the measures taken by the government agencies and the community. He also stressed on the need for sustainable solutions to the recurrent natural calamities in the State as well as earthquake vulnerability solutions.
Shri Tripathi, in his welcome address, emphasized on the primary aspects of this collaboration like training and education on disasters, imparting awareness and innovation and research, which would enhance the opportunities of the professionals of ASDMA.
Prof. Sudip Mitra from IITG shared an overview of how this collaborative training and capacity building programme on disaster risk reduction in the north eastern states evolved over the last 2 years and the technical trainings that would be imparted to concerned stakeholders of these states to build expertise with the help of IITG and the expert consultants appointed by the JICA.
The discussion was continued with presentations from ASDMA on the learnings of the participants who recently had participated in a 2 week long training programme conducted in Japan, which was attended by 2 officials from ASDMA and also various other SDMAs of the north eastern region. The ASDMA team also shared the plan and follow-up actions on the training to be imparted in the years 2025 and 2026.
The JICA team from Japan comprised Araki Motoyo, Earthquake specialist; Yuasa Takashi, Flood specialist; Akiguchi Miho, Training management specialist; Kato Tomohiro, Human Resource development specialist and Sasaki Yuka. This team of Japanese experts earlier visited IIT Guwahati and met the Director and IIT Guwahati team.