India helping five nations develop Early Warning Systems (EWS): India Meteorological Department (IMD) chief | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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    India helping five nations develop Early Warning Systems (EWS): India Meteorological Department (IMD) chief

    Posted 12 Apr 2024

    2 min read

    • India is helping Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Mauritius to develop EWS to reduce loss of life and property due to extreme weather events.
      • India's efforts are part of 'Early Warnings for All (EW4All)' initiative announced by UN in 2022.
    • EWS: An integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting etc. and processes enabling individuals, governments to take timely action reducing disaster risks.

     

    • About EW4All 
      • Aims to protect everyone from hazardous weather, water or climate events through EWS by end of 2027.
      • Spearheaded by World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
      • Calls for investments of USD 3.1 billion between 2023- 2027 to strengthen four pillars of EWS i.e.
        • Disaster risk knowledge.
        • Detection, observation, monitoring, analysis, and forecasting.
        • Warning dissemination and communication.
        • Preparedness and response capabilities.

     

    • Need for EWS
      • Protect lives and livelihoods
        • About 2 million deaths and economic losses of USD 4.3 trillion occurred during 1970 -2021.
      • Improve preparedness and mitigate impact of natural hazards.
      • Increasing disasters due to climate change necessitate EWS.
        • World is projected to face 560 medium- to large-scale disasters each-year.

    Challenges with EWS

    • Lack of co-ordination between data collection and warning dissemination centre.
    • Language barriers hamper communication of early warnings to people.

     

    Way Forward

    • Integrate scientific and technological advancements with local, traditional, Indigenous and generational knowledge.
    • Improving data quality, ensuring access to data globally.
    • Tags :
    • Disaster Management
    • Early Warning System
    • Early Warnings for All
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