Guwahati, July 31: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on Wednesday between Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) and CivicDataLab (CDL), a research lab, to amplify its data-driven efforts for mitigating and adapting to the ever-increasing extreme weather events in the state like floods.
The initiative is a collaborative effort to improve government resource allocation for disaster risk reduction (DRR).
The MoU was signed at the chief secretary’s conference hall in Janata Bhawan here by principal secretary and chief executive officer, ASDMA, Gyanendra Dev Tripathi, and CDL co-founder and director, Gaurav Godhwani, in the presence of Assam chief secretary Ravi Kota; joint secretary, revenue and disaster management department, Shyamal Kshetra Gogoi; ASDMA state project coordinator, Alakananda Medhi, besides district disaster management authorities (DDMAs) and senior officials of ASDMA and CDL.
In his speech, chief secretary Kota highlighted the prospect of Assam becoming a role model for different states of the country by adopting such innovative initiatives.
Explaining the importance of data-driven decision making, Kota said such efforts could be adopted across different state ministries and sectors to improve data for governance, especially for building climate resilience.
He emphasised the need for collaboration to ensure inclusive and effective disaster mitigation, including all government agencies to enhance a holistic climate mitigation strategy.
ASDMA CEO Tripathi summarised the proposed collaboration objectives in the state to help encourage innovation and adoption of data technologies for disaster risk reduction (DRR).
The programme was also attended virtually by special secretary, Himachal Pradesh government, Dunichand Rana, who explained the vulnerabilities faced by Himachal Pradesh.
Lauding CivicDataLab’s initiative, Rana shared the roadmap chalked out for the deployment of such a solution in Himachal Pradesh over the next 18 months.
CDL co-founder Godhwani thanked the Assam government for its support to build data-driven solutions for policy reform.
Sharing the work of CDL, a research lab working at the intersection of data, technology, design and social science, in Assam and across India, he demonstrated the unique features of intelligent data solutions for disaster risk reduction.