Vice-Chancellor of University of Kashmir Prof Talat Ahmad Monday said that creating a disaster-conscious student community can go a long way in promoting disaster prevention consciousness at the grassroots.
He was addressing as chief guest the inaugural session of a three-day workshop on disaster risk reduction, organised by the Department of Geography and Disaster Management (DGDM), for college teachers.
Prof Talat said that academic institutions have to take a lead in spreading the message of disaster management in the society.
“I think students can be the best communicators of this message. J&K UT, which falls in the Himalayan region, is very vulnerable to disasters and everyone has to understand this fact. At the official level, our planning and our development have to be carried out in a manner where it doesn’t disturb nature in any manner,” he said, urging the DGDM to hold such capacity-building programmes at the college-level too.