Dealing with disaster: Exhibition focuses on damage limitation

Professor Dr Amir Khan says UoP sent 100 individuals to the field each year

PESHAWAR: As many as 43 stalls were on display during the Seventh National Disaster Management Exhibition held at University of Peshawar on Wednesday.

The two-day fair was organised by the Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management in collaboration with ACF International (Action Against Hunger) on the lawns of the Sheikh Muhammad Taimur Academic Block.

UoP Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Muhammad Rasul Jan inaugurated the exhibition. He was accompanied by ACF Country Manager Stephen Andrew Tailor and Life and Environmental Sciences Dean Professor Dr Amir Nawaz Khan.

The VC was briefed by representatives of various NGOs working on disaster management.



Addressing the ceremony, Jan said Pakistan was prone to natural and manmade disasters. He added it was imperative to equip trained disaster management professionals to ensure damage limitation.

He said many organisations from the government and private sector were established to manage calamities after the devastating Kashmir earthquake in 2005. However, the lack of trained and skilled professionals meant ideal results could not be achieved.

UoP therefore established the Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management in 2009 to supply an adequate number of trained professionals to work in these organisations, the VC said.

Jan said the university was working towards “education for peace” and will make every effort to achieve it. He appreciated the participation of the scores of national and foreign delegates in the exhibition. He said the occasion would provide a networking opportunity for them to liaison and benefit from each other’s experience.

Professor Dr Amir Nawaz Khan said the centre was supplying 100 professionals to the field of disaster management every year.

As many as 150 schools and 70 colleges and varsities of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were participating as visitors in the two-day exhibition.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd,  2015.