NEW DELHI: Days after the Joshimath sinking incident occurred in Uttarakhand, Union Minister of Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh said that man-made disasters are rising rapidly.
“Thus, there is the need to devise proper mitigation strategies to minimize these disasters”, said Dr Singh.
Dr Singh made this remark while speaking at the two-day Joint Indo-UK Academic Workshop, organized by the Ministry of Earth Sciences here with the UK delegation, led by Christina Scott-British deputy high commissioner of India, on ‘Solid Earth Hazard’.
“The Ministry of Earth Sciences is addressing the Joshimath-like challenges along with other agencies. We will be installing systems for Micro Seismic Observation in the area,” Dr Singh said, adding that workshops have been organized when India is witnessing the unfolding of the Joshimath crisis.
The minister informed that 100 New Seismological Centres (Observatories) will be opened up across the country in addition to 152 already existing and functional such centres.
“There is a critical need for fundamental research on the physical process that leads to failure of the brittle layers beneath the crust and sub-crust, to develop a low-cost solution to check natural disasters," he said.
He also stressed that international collaboration like the Indo-UK initiative to fight such disasters in future for mitigating the risk associated with natural disasters, like earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis. The minister further claimed that India is moving closer to playing a critical role in seismological advancements and understandings.
“The scientific understanding of the processes behind disasters has grown immensely over the past 50 years also," he said.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has constituted a group of scientists to interact with the experts and scientists visiting from the UK at the workshop to frame unique research projects on ‘Solid Earth Hazards’.
The experts attending the workshop will continue deliberating on earthquakes, landslides and subsidence like Joshimath combing data sets, remote sensing and field observations and scope to identify the geo-hazards through AI-driven techniques. Wendy Matcham-head of Resilient Environment, Natural Environment Research Council (UK) is among other experts attending the workshop.