NESAC hosted a comprehensive 5-day short course titled “Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS in Disaster Risk Management” for officials nominated by various state disaster management departments and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) from March 11 to 15, 2024, at the NESAC Outreach Facility. A total of nineteen participants from all over India attended the training course. The program was inaugurated by Dr S P Aggarwal, Director NESAC, where he interacted with the participants by highlighting the importance of space technology in disaster management and the works taken up by NESAC towards managing various disasters such as floods, forest fire, landslides, earthquakes, lightning and thunderstorms etc. The topics covered in the course included an overview of geospatial tools and techniques, and their applications in different disaster domains, applications of UAV technology and demonstration of various dashboard/ web-portals developed by NESAC for disaster management. An enlightening Invited Lecture by Prof. Parag Phukan from Guwahati University on “Geohazards in NE India” provided valuable insights to the participants. Additionally, participants benefited from a one-day field visit to the Doppler Weather Radar Station in Cherrapunjee, coupled with field surveys employing DGPS technology. The valedictory session, held on March 15, 2024, was chaired by Dr. K K Sarma, Group Head RSAG & Deputy Project Director NERDRR. Dr. Jonali Goswami, Programme Coordinator, extended a warm welcome to participants and attendees. Shri Safi Ahsan Rizvi, IPS, Advisor (Mitigation) at NDMA, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, commending both the participants and NESAC for the successful completion of the training program. Dr. Rekha B Gogoi, Course Director, provided a succinct overview of the course report during the session and the program concluded with Dr. Gopal Sharma, the course officer, with a formal vote of thanks.
