BENGALURU: Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Saturday stressed the need for grassroots participation in disaster preparedness, urging the formation of disaster management committees at the village level.
Speaking at the World Disaster Management Conference at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), he highlighted that local communities play a crucial role in reducing the impact of disasters.
“The local community is the backbone of disaster management. Empowering, training and making people aware at the grassroots level can significantly reduce the impact of disasters,” the governor said. He called for better training and resource support for these committees and advocated introducing disaster awareness training from the school level itself.
The conference, held under the theme - Technology for Climate and Disaster Resilience - also highlighted the role of technology in disaster management. Gehlot pointed out that tools like AI, big data, satellite imaging, GIS mapping, drones and mobile alerts are transforming how disasters are detected, managed and mitigated.
He stressed the importance of incorporating disaster resilience into national development policies and praised India’s leadership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi for advancing disaster preparedness.
He also lauded the upcoming World Disaster Management Conference scheduled in Uttarakhand this November. The event was attended by Prof
Durgesh Pant, Director General of the Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology, and Prof Umesh Waghmare of JNCASR.