U.S. Consulate General, CPPR to Launch Handbook on Disaster Management on October 15

KOCHI:
The U.S. Consulate General, Chennai, in association with the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Kochi, will host an online launch of the “Community Resilience Handbook for Disaster Preparedness and Management” at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 15, 2020.

Anne Lee Seshadri, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai, will deliver the opening remarks, followed by a panel discussion on “All-Hazards Approach to Community-Based Disaster Risk Mitigation.”

The panel, moderated by Dr. D. Dhanuraj, CPPR Chairman, includes speakers Dr. Muralee Thummarukudy, Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Dr. Himanshu Grover, co-director, Institute for Hazard Mitigation and Planning, College of Built Environments, University of Washington; Dr. Nivedita P. Haran, Honorary Chairperson, Board of Directors, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, Kerala; and Dr. Shekhar L. Kuriakose, Member Secretary, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority.

The handbook was compiled and prepared by CPPR as part of the project “America with Kerala: Uniting for a Disaster Resilient Kerala,” organized in association with the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai and Kerala State Disaster Management Authority. The project consisted of a series of workshops and awareness building events held from June to October 2019, aiming to share key lessons and best practices from the U.S. experience in disaster management with relevant agencies and stakeholders in Kerala while allowing U.S. experts to learn from Kerala’s experience managing the flooding.

Following the virtual event, both the Malayalam and English versions of the handbook will be made available on the CPPR website.