You were all witness to one of the
world’s worst natural disasters on the 26th of
January 2001. Calamity in the form of a severe earthquake struck various parts of Gujarat on this
day. It left a trail of destruction of life and
property and created a sense of pain and loss that we still feel.
Natural disasters impart lessons at a very high cost of
life and property. But if those lessons do not lead to
learning and knowledge generation, then the cost seems even
heavier. At the time of disaster recurrence, the failure to
learn from the past hurts the most. The earthquake in
Gujarat and the subsequent chaos were indicators of how crucial
prior planning is in managing relief and rehabilitation
during disasters. The Kutch region required massive and
immediate assistance at that time, which came but was very
poorly managed. This made the need for a proper disaster mitigation plan
very apparent. Learning from experience is essential in building a knowledge resource which would help in
being better
prepared in the future.
SRISTI & IIMACORE have started an
initiative for developing a society based “Disaster Management
Information System” to be accessible to all in time of such
emergencies. The system is accessible on SRISTI’s website. We
call upon everyone to volunteer and participate in the
initiative. You may volunteer your services and/ or resources,
and share your experiences, research studies, publications etc
at this website. This is an effort to pool resources towards
better preparedness at the time of future disasters. www.sristi.org/dmis.html
Let us wish that such calamities never
happen again. But if they do then we must be prepared.
Soliciting your support
Thanking you
The Honey Bee Network
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