Assessment of disaster preparedness of depts need of hour: Expert

Shimla, April 29

The Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (HPSDMA), in association with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), conducted a workshop on the “assessment of fiscal risks due to disasters in critical infrastructure”.

The workshop was held with key departments and other stakeholders for developing a fiscal risk assessment framework to capture direct, indirect and network effects of disasters on critical infrastructure such as transport (road and bridges) and energy (power) sectors.

More than 80 participants from different government departments, research and technical institutes, academia and non-government agencies participated in the workshop and discussed how to strengthen state and national-level collaboration for climate and disaster-resilient infrastructure.

Speaking during the inaugural session, DC Rana (IAS), Special Secretary (Revenue), highlighted the need for a comprehensive assessment of each sector and departments’ preparedness for future disasters. He said post the 2023 floods, there is dire need for disaster assessment and resilient recovery.

Basu Sood, Advisor, Planning, in the Himachal Government highlighted the funding gap in disaster damages and recovery and reconstruction.

Aslam Perwaiz, Deputy Executive Director of ADPC, who is leading the study, stressed the need for deeper engagement with key officials in the departments such finance, planning, energy, transport and others on the analytical framework, data sources, and statistical analysis methods for a better estimation of financial need for future.