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Advanced Technologies for
Disaster Warning: National Symposium at AMRITA
Recognizing the immense importance of understanding global-scale
natural forces such as Tsunami, a national symposium on “Advanced
Technologies for Disaster Warning, Rapid Recovery, and Management” was
held on Jan 13, 2005 at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore.
Eminent scientists from national organizations such as ISRO and
DRDO, multinational companies such as HP, TCS, and INTEL, and
Japanese and American Scientists (Fujitsu and California) gathered
together at AMRITA to present their ideas for disaster warning
management. On behalf of ISRO, Dr. Hegde proposed that ISRO will
work closely with AMRITA to set up Emergency Resource Centers
and Disaster Resource Centers (ERCs and DRCs) connected via the
highly advanced AMRITA-ISRO Satellite Network.
AMRITA’s
Br. Jayaraj, CTO of Amrita Research Labs, Amritapuri, Kerala,
and Ms. Rajathilagam, Scientist, presented deployment of wireless
sensor networks for disaster warning. Dr. Sree Rajan from FUJITSU,
California (USA) elaborated on the latest advances in large-scale
Information Storage, Backup, and Recovery Systems for disaster
management. Mr. Ravindranath from HP came up with broadcasting
Emergency Response Info through various communication media like
Cell phones, radio, cable network, etc. and related issues. Dr.
Girish Chandra from TCS outlined combinations of wireless technologies
for fail-safe disaster rapid warning systems. Mr. Sartaj Singh
from DRDO focused on the use of Electronic Wireless Robots for
dangerous-terrain monitoring in disasters. Dr. P. Venkat Rangan,
Vice Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, explained the leading
role that Mata Amritanandamayi Math and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
have taken in the Tsunami relief efforts in both Kerala and Tamil
Nadu, and concluded with a joint technological initiative for
advanced systems for effective disaster warning, rapid recovery,
and management. The entire expert team later visited the headquarters
of Mata Amritanandamayi Math, Amritapuri, Kerala, to get a first
hand knowledge of the large-scale relief work being carried out.
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