New Delhi: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), jointly with the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), is conducting a two-day national-level Conference on Crowd Management at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala beginning tomorrow. The conference will be inaugurated by Shri E. Chandrasekharan, Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Kerala.
The conference aims to strengthen the ongoing capacity building measures and thus enhance the preparedness of all stakeholders to organise safe mass gathering events. It will help further sensitise the stakeholders to the need of implementing the salient features of the NDMA Guidelines on Crowd Management formulated in the year 2014. The conference will also discuss Best Practices, and the use of technology and media for Risk Reduction at such events.
Two technical sessions – Understanding Risk (Causes and Triggers) and Lessons Learnt/Experience Sharing and Best Practices – will be held on the first day of the conference tomorrow. Three more technical sessions – Planning & Coordination, Safety Standards -Fire Works and Use of Animals in Festivals, and Cross-Cutting Issues – will be held on the concluding day of the two-day conference.
The conference will be attended by the Members and senior officials of NDMA and Kerala Government, besides representatives of State governments, Shrine Boards, religious trusts, event organisers and response agencies. Shri V. S. Sunil Kumar, Minister for Agriculture, Kerala, will chair the Valedictory Session on July 12, 2017.
India has 17.86 per cent of the total world population and boasts of cultural, religious and traditional festivals characterised by events of mass gathering, making it highly vulnerable to crowd-related disasters. As it is possible to completely prevent these disasters, NDMA formulated a guideline for ‘Managing Crowd at Events and Venues of Mass Gathering’ in 2014 for State Governments, local authorities, administrators and organizers.
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