PESHAWAR: Keeping in view the vulnerability of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and damage caused by disasters in the past, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management (CDPM), University of Peshawar, on Friday launched an initiative to reduce impact of disasters through the application of digital technology, at a function here.

The initiative would create a collaborative environment to enable various agencies and communities in order to act collectively in case of calamities, CDPM said in a statement issued here on Friday.

The joint research project has been titled “A Collaborative Multi-Agency Platform for Building Resilient Communities”.

Experts from Think Lab and Disaster Resilience Centre at the Salford University, United Kingdom, are technically assisting the project.

Mushtaq Ahmad Jan, assistant professor at CDPM, in his presentation said that the research project was focusing on enhancing web-based multi-agency collaboration models in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and was developing disaster resilience framework measuring resilience of the critical infrastructure and communities in the province

Dr Said Rehman, General Manager Suparco, explained effectiveness of “Disaster Watch” a satellite web-based platform developed by Suparco for information dissemination regarding major hazard events.

Dr Fahim Ahmad, Deputy Director, Pakistan Meteorological Department, said that the proposed web-based platform would be an effective source of broadcasting forecast and early warnings about the hydro-metrological hazards.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2017