North Eastern States and IIT Guwahati visited Japan to learn its disaster management under JICA’s training programme

2024.05.27

The training programme aims to enhance the capacities of State Disaster Management Authority officials with Japanese and global knowledge for disaster risk reduction

Guwahati, 27 May 2024: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Centre for Disaster Management and Research (CDMR), the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) have collaborated to implement a training programme geared towards enhancing the capacities of State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) officials of the North Eastern Region with latest global techniques for disaster prevention and mitigation. The two week training programme will be conducted annually from April 2024 to March 2027. IIT Guwahati, as the project's implementation agency, was instrumental in bringing together all SDMA officials in the region to jointly participate in the training in Japan.

Due to the topographical uniqueness, India’s North Eastern Region is highly vulnerable to natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, and landslides, which result in immense loss of life and economic damage. For instance, since 1980, EM-DAT1 has recorded 115 large-scale disasters involving the northeast, with floods affecting more than 2 million people in recent years (2012, 2017, 2020) and multiple earthquakes with magnitude 6 or greater (1991, 2007, 2015). Such natural disasters require the respective SDMA to implement effective disaster risk reduction initiatives.

The JICA project, titled "Enhancing Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Building Capacities of North Eastern States of India", aims to equip SDMA officials with knowledge and skills necessary to implement disaster prevention measures, to promote pre-disaster investments, and to enhance mitigation efforts across North Eastern Region. Additionally, IIT Guwahati will tailor effective training plans for SDMAs to sustain the efforts to enhance disaster risk reduction measures based on the project’s findings.

By providing trainings based on Japan's leading expertise and best practises from Japan and the globe, the project seeks to bolster the region's preparedness and resilience against such catastrophic events. The first batch joined the two-week programme and learned about Japan's leading policies, technologies, and best practices in disaster risk reduction from May 13-24, 2024.

Speaking of the programme, Mr. SAITO Mitsunori, Chief Representative, JICA India, stated, “The North Eastern Region is especially prone to floods, landslides, and earthquakes because of their mountainous geography. Also, climate change increases the disaster risks due to unpredictable weather patterns in the region. T hrough the programme, we hope that North Eastern states and IIT Guwahati will acquire the latest knowledge and technologies to enhance their disaster preparedness. By leveraging Japanese and global knowledge, we will continue to collaborate with NDMA, SDMAs and IIT Guwahati to realise disaster-resilient Northeast ."

Building on the knowledge gained during the first training in Japan, the IITG and the State governments will identify the specific challenges and capacity development needs of each North Eastern state in disaster risk reduction and management by July this year in collaboration with a team of Japanese experts.
JICA remains committed to strengthening the disaster resilience of communities in Northeast India by facilitating the transfer of cutting-edge technologies, knowledge, and best practices from Japan.

[1] The international disaster database maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, University of Louvain

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