Two days regional workshop on the challenges of disaster risk reduction in hill towns of North Western Himalaya begin in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh today.Shri Jai Ram Thakur,Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, inaugurated this workshop.

Disaster management experts and government officials of Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, union territory of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh alongwith various stake holders like ITBP,BRO,PWD, etc are participating in it.

CM said that State Government will make efforts to set up a Disaster Mitigation Fund.He urged the stake holders to take effective steps to build safer and disaster resilient Himachal by developing a holistic, pro-active, multi-disaster, technology driven and community based strategy for disaster management.

He said that it can be done through collective efforts of all government agencies and non-governmental organisations.

The topic of workshop is “Challenges of Disaster Risk Reduction in Hill Towns” and it is being organized by the State Disaster Management Authority (HPSDMA) in collaboration with HP Council for Science Technology and Environment (HIMCOSTE), and National Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Home, Government of India.

The hill towns of Himalaya are prone to various hazards both natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, flash floods, snow storms and avalanches, draughts etc. and manmade hazards like dam failures, fires, accidents, besides biological, industrial and hazardous chemicals etc.

All these Himalayan states fall in seismic zone five and four.These are prone to big devastating earthquakes.

The CM posed two challenges to experts, 1st How to make an unsafe house safe without disrupting the life of occupants. 2nd how to make a safe house where the location is unsafe.

As many villagers may have land at an unsafe places only.They have to build houses at these unsafe places in absence of alternative land pieces.

Jai Ram Thakur informed that a target had been fixed to train as many as 16,130 carpenters to promote construction of safe houses. A Hospital Safety Scheme aimed at strengthening health services upto community health centre (CHC) level has been formulated.

He said that efforts were being made to train the youth for mitigation of disaster. At least ten to fifteen youth would be trained in every gram panchayat and in the first phase 48,390 youth would be trained in rescuing and providing first aid to the victims.

Jai Ram Thakur said that the State Government had also approved school safety project under which disaster management plan would be prepared and mock drills would be conducted by the educational institutions.

The Government of India has sanctioned one National Disaster Response Battalion for the State and the State Government was also working on setting up its own State Disaster Response Force.

Himachal Pradesh government is considering creation of a Disaster Mitigation Fund, so that funds could be released for providing immediate relief to the affected community.

A booklet on school safety guidelines and two videos on disaster management and safe construction practices brought out by the SDMA were also released by CM.

Housing, Urban and Town Country Planning Minister Mrs Sarveen Chaudhary felt the need to adopt traditional technologies for construction of houses, particularly in the hilly states. She urged the general public for construction of their buildings as per safe buildings guidelines issued by NDMA and state government.

She also thanked the Prime Minister for implementing RERA Act in the country.

Chief Secretary Dr Shrikant Baldi said that need was to strengthen the lifeline building such as Secretariat, DC offices, fire stations, police stations, telecommunication network, important bridges and water tanks etc. which would provide immediate relief measures in case of natural calamity.

He also felt the need for scientific approach for disposal of construction debris as its unplanned disposal is leading to landslides and flash floods.

Mr Kamal Kishor,Member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), delivered the keynote address.

He said that development must be carried out in such a way that it does not increase the risk of disaster.

He said that over dependence of states on NDRF is not good.He also stressed upon the need of setting up State’s own Disaster Response Forces.

He said that steps should be taken for improving connectivity and communication network in the State. NGOs should come forward to develop community disaster management plan up to the village level.

Principal Secretary, Revenue Onkar Sharma highlighted that we must ensure minimum loss to the lives and properties in case of natural calamities by adopting best & safe practices.

Prof Ravi Sinha,IIT Mumbai, highlighted the risks of disasters in bill towns of Himalaya.

Shri D.C. Rana,Director-cum-Special Secretary,Disaster Management,HP highlighted the efforts of SDMA, Himachal Pradesh, in creation of a culture of safety.

He said that that the two days workshop would have four technical sessions on hazard vulnerability and risk assessment, improving compliance with building bye-laws in hill towns, disaster mitigation and preparedness and improving disaster response and recovery.

Eminent scientists from different institutions like NGRI Hyderabad, GSI Chandigarh,SASE, NIT Hamirpur, IIT Madras, Bombay and Mandi, IMD New Delhi, ITBP, HIMCOSTE, and SDMA of these Himalayan States are participating in the Workshop.