doi: 10.3850/S1793924009179392

Foreword

G. Thiruvasagam Thiruvasagam, G. Vice - Chancellor,University of Madras

ABSTRACT

Majority of the Asian countries that have been fighting for poverty alleviation now face an additional struggle, due to an increase in the trend and intensity of natural hazards that are induced by rapid and unexpected changes in the climate. Several experts, institutions, and organizations have worked dauntlessly in the aftermath of 26^th December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami catastrophe, which has changed the total scenario of coastal environment in all the affected countries. This disaster event has also paved way for remarkable development in the rehabilitation of affected people apart from creating awareness at different levels. Several countries in the Southeast Asia-especially India, Thailand, and Indonesia now have an early warning system for tsunami and storm surges in operation. However, development of disaster management strategies based on site specific parameters, traditional values, and community perspectives and implementation of relief and rehabilitation measures in the Most Seriously Affected (MSA) areas are important.

Increase in land use areas especially due to population explosion is one of the hidden reasons for most property and life loss in the event of heavy rainfall and flooding situations. On 26^th November 2005,when the entireworld‘s attention was on the terrorist attack on Mumbai, almost the entire Tamil Nadu coast in southeast India was being battered by Cyclone Nisha. The serious impact of flash flood during this cyclone was witnessed in the form of damages to irrigation canals, overflow of water storage areas and flooding. This devastating event taught us the lesson that all our present day developmental activities need to be taken into account for future eventualities. Additionally, implementation of national demonstrations on Lab to Land and bio-village programs across Asian countries are the need of the hour. In the era of fast modernization and so many advancements in the cross cutting science and technology, our traditional knowledge is getting eroded. It is also more appropriate to properly document the values of our traditional skills to make them available for our future generations. This could be achieved through research and development in the fields of multi-institutional cooperation, international collaboration, sharing of information, and participation of multi-stakeholders in decision-making.

I am happy that the Asian Universities‘ Network of Environment and Disaster Management (AUEDM) instituted by the Kyoto University in Japan has yielded good initial results by addressing the disaster management issues pertaining to several Asian countries. I am proud to mention that the University of Madras is one among the important members of AUEDM and we will support its future expansion to meet the demands of higher education in Disaster Management.