IIT Roorkee signs pact with Taiwanese centre for developing tech solutions for earthquakes, floods

Roorkee (Uttarakhand) [India], April 18 : Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Science and Technology Centre for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), Taiwan, while the scientists and faculty members of NCDR, along with their Director Dr. Hongey Chen visited the institute.

This MoU aims to develop scientific and academic cooperation and scientific research to promote relations and mutual understanding between NCDR and the Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management (CoEDMM) of IIT Roorkee.

The key objective of the MoU is mutually developing technology solutions to natural hazards, including earthquakes, landslides, floods, debris flow, and compound disasters. The researchers from IIT Roorkee and NCDR aim to co-establish an early warning sensor network equipped with P-Alert sensors at selected locations in Uttarakhand.

Prof K K Pant, Director IIT Roorkee, highlighted, "Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is an integral part of social and economic development, and this would be a lasting cooperation of IIT Roorkee with the National Science and Technology Centre for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), Taiwan in development of sustainable mitigation of natural hazards for the future. We recognize building resilient infrastructure and reaffirm the interrelationship between disaster risk reduction and sustainable development."

Dr. Hongey Chen, Director, National Science and Technology Centre for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), Taiwan, emphasized, "It is important to work in tandem with the South Asia Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (SAADRI), and we are thankful to IIT Roorkee in promoting disaster risk management and capacity-building programs by introducing advanced science and technology."

The MoU signing ceremony is followed by a Technical workshop on Earthquake Early Warning Systems (EEWS). In India, the nation's first Earthquake Early Warning System (EEWS), namely Uttarakhand Earthquake Early Warning System (UEEWS), is established at the IIT Roorkee. At present, the alert system is active only within Uttarakhand, India. The EEWS should be extended to other regions within and outside India. This being the motivation of SAADRI and CoEDMM IIT Roorkee, Prof. K. K. Pant congratulated the orgzers and wished the event a grand success.

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