International Conference: The Eastern Himalaya III at Jamia Millia Islamia

The Eastern Himalaya III is the third edition of a series of international conference that deals with the issues, concerns and challenges faced by topographically and culturally diverse countries – Nepal, Bhutan, India, China and Myanmar. It brings together the policy makers, academicians, practitioners at the ground level, media and NGOs to discuss on these issues. These then are transmitted to local, state and national governments, the public and stakeholders, through documents, recommendations as well as media. With such a noble and humanitarian deed this conference was held in Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (CNESPR), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) in collaboration with National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Government of India and National Centre for People’s Action in Disaster Preparedness (NCPDP). The two day conference from 22nd of February to 23rd of February was held at just the apt time when the world had witnessed the cataclysmic Nepal earthquake and the most recent Manipur earthquake.

Despite the various laws passed by the Indian Parliament regarding Disaster Management, India still struggles to overcome the disasters. Keeping in view of this, the conference had discussions on vital topics like shelter and health that wrapped up with the special policies and innovations to cope up with the disasters. The introduction of the conference was given by Prof. Sanjoy Hazarika, Director, CNESPR with the opening remarks of Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, JMI. Eminent people--Mr. Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State, Minister of Home Affairs, GoI, Mr. Lal Thanhawla, CM Mizoram and Prof. Santosh Kumar, Executive Director, National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) addressed the audience during the first day.

The first session started with “coping with crisis” which was chaired by Prof. Janki Andheria, Tiss, Mumbai. The keynote Address was given by Prof Shiv Vishwanathan of Jindal University. The session then moved to “Trauma, Treatment and Access at times of Calamity” briefed by Prof. K. Sekar, Prof & Head, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, NIMHANS, Bangalore. “Key shelter policy issues emerging in the past post” was then briefed by Rajendra Desai, Hon Jt disaster scenarios Director NCPDP.

The second session was about “Technologies for shelter rehabilitation “chaired by Ms. Zeenat Niazi, Vice President Society for Development Alternatives.” Building technologies for shelter rehabilitation” was talked about by Sandeep Virmani, Managing Director, Hunnarshala, Bhuj. “Addressing Vulnerability of Existing Buildings” was spoken by Shri T.N.Gupta, Former Executive Director, Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council, Ministry of HUPA, GoI. Various post disaster damage assessment techniques and estimation was taken up by Dr. Chandan Ghosh, Professor, HOD Geohazard Division, NIDM.

Other eminent people like Kanak Dixit, Editor, Himal, Katmandu, Amod Dixit, Executive Director, Nepal Society for Earthquake Technology, Nand Kishore Agarwal, Programme Manager, ICIMOD and Chair Prof. SM Sajid, Dept. of Social Work, JMI discussed on the community reach-out, opportunities for Change Ground Zero: The Nepal Story, capacity building for shelter vulnerability and post disaster communication needs.

The second day oversaw the innovations and building change in vulnerable regions. A special session was conducted on the boat clinics on the Brahmaputra and PET Bottles Hospital in the Sunderbans. The PET Bottle Hospital is the first hospital in Asia to be built in a completely eco-friendly manner with the help of sand filled plastic bottles. It has been undertaken by the Goa based NGO Samarpan Foundation. The conference ended with ‘Moving the Mountains’ -- Sixth North East Annual Cultural Evening featuring the award winning rap artiste BK Hrangkhawl of Tripura and other groups at Jamia’s Open Air Auditorium.

Source: Sarah Ansari, click4college Specialist