The Concept :

      In the recent years there have been phenomenal upsurge of knowledge and research on disaster risk mitigation and management across many disciplines and subjects ranging from earth sciences to atmospheric, environmental, engineering, agricultural, medical, social, behavioral and management sciences, remote sensing, information and communication technologies etc. Research and knowledge creation in all these and related subjects are taking place at a fast pace in universities, research and development organizations, training institutions, government agencies, corporate sectors, community organizations and sometimes purely on individual initiatives, but mostly in an isolated and segmented manner, without much interaction and interface among the related disciplines.

      While the nature of knowledge and research in particular disciplines are such that this has to be anchored in the domain of specific disciplines, greater interaction and interface among the disciplines would serve the cause of disaster risk mitigation in more than one way. First, research in one discipline would be benefited by knowledge in related fields – it would validate, complement, and sometimes even correct the findings. Secondly, this would enlarge the perspectives of research in particular disciplines and provide a holistic framework for research. More importantly this would help to create a community of scholars, researchers and practitioners on disaster risk reduction who would be aware of the trend of research in different disciplines and able to interact with each other.  

      The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) is strategically positioned to bring together organizations and individuals in diverse disciplines and sectors and in assembling, synthesizing, managing and further disseminating knowledge on disaster management in diverse sectors. The Institute is already playing this role through its many activities involving multiple research organizations and individuals.

        All these organizations and individuals have felt the need for creating a platform where researchers and practitioners shall meet at least once in a year, present their research papers, debate on the issues, challenges, shortcomings and opportunities and discuss the areas of mutual cooperation and road maps.Thus the India Disaster Management Congress has been conceived.