BeyondHeadlines Education Desk
In view of the recent devastating earthquake in Nepal and parts of our country, Jamia Millia Islamia, has felt an urgent need to develop academic streams of disaster management and mitigation in Indian universities/institutions besides developing general micro-zonation maps/data on major cities along the Indo-Gangetic Plains, south of the Himalayas, in the northern parts of the country that includes our capital Delhi.
Prof. Talat Ahmad, an eminent Earth Scientist and the Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, has suggested that a group of scientists should come together under the banner of Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences to study the affected areas in Nepal and its neighbouring regions in India to carry out scientific studies for developing future perspective plans/programmes.
Jamia Millia Islamia is starting a Diploma Course in “Disaster Management” from the current academic session 2015-16 keeping in view the significance of this particular knowledge-domain. The university proposes to develop a model corridor in the Himalayas where students will be given practical training on various natural disasters such as landslides, avalanches, cloud-bursts, floods, untimely snow fall/rain and other extreme natural events that have become frequent and could be related to the climate change. This add-on course on Disaster Management would be available to students from all streams of learning. The decision was taken much before the devastating earthquake struck the Himalayan nation and parts of India.
It is to be noted that under the leadership of Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, a group of Earth Scientists, carried out extensive studies in the Western Himalayas following Kedarnath Disaster in 2013. This group of experts is in the process of submitting a detailed report to the Government of India based on multi-institutional joint effort of different universities and Earth Sciences Research Institutions of the country. This study was conducted under the auspices of Map the Neighborhood in Uttarakhand (MANU), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
Interacting with media persons early this morning, Prof. Ahmad informed that he had requested Hon’ble Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences and Secretaries to the Department of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences to initiate a scientific study of the devastating earthquake by a group of experts for which Jamia would offer its expertise to reorient our country to matters related to natural disasters.
