TALK ON DISASTER PREPAREDNESS 26th January, 2001,52nd Republic Day of India, 8.46 a.m… Indians were jolted out of their patriotic reverie by the catastrophic news of the massive earthquake that had shook one of the country's most revered, advanced state …Gujarat. It came as a bolt out of the blue when they fathomed that the beautiful state had been turned into rubble by the humongous impact of the earthquake,one of the worst in the history of our country. Amidst the massive loss of humanity and property one was made to realise that 'we cannot stop natural disaster but we can arm ourselves with knowledge; so many lives wouldn't have to be lost if there was enough disaster preparedness'. We,at Udgam, understand the importance of such awareness along with academics hence we always strive to arm our students with cognizance, apt enough, to be a responsible and conscious citizen of our country. Keeping this in mind we had organised a talk on” Disaster Preparedness” by an eminent scientist Dr. Vijay K. Agarwal who has had a very long association with the space giant ISRO. The programme commenced with the ushering in of the chief guest, Mr.Agarwal’ to the auditorium by our student of XD, Krishi Patel.It was soon followed by a welcome speech by Aatman Shah of X B and a bouquet presentation by Vardhan Khara of XF .Subsequently Mr.Agarwal was invited to address the students. The experienced scientist talked about natural disasters in detail . Highlighting the different types of disasters , he went on to discuss the key factors responsible for the cause and intensity of disasters. He emphasised mainly on the disaster management preparedness clearly hitting upon the fact that 'preparedness is the only way we can combat a natural disaster'. He educated the students on the importance of communication systems and how they play an integral role in disaster prediction. The crucial role played by ISRO in disaster management was also conveyed to our students. He ended his talk by motivating the students to play a responsible and effective role in disaster management. The programme ended with a vote of thanks by Vrunda Shah of class X C.
