Scientists cannot remain 'silent witnesses' to natural disasters: P M
By siliconindia staff writer   |   Monday, 03 January 2005, 20:30 IST
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AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that scientists cannot remain "silent witnesses" to natural disasters like tsunami. He said science and technology must play a vital role in the country's strategy to address the problems of mitigation and management of natural disasters. Speaking at the 92nd session of Indian Science Congress, he said, "We must enhance our predictive capability and preparedness for meeting emergencies arising from floods, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts, landslides and avalanches". Manmohan Singh also said there is a need to understand the natural phenomenon leading to such disasters and the human activities that aggravate them. "Our pre-disaster preparedness is as important as our ability to integrate and manage the post-disaster situation," he said. "Confronted by the colossal human tragedies wrecked on thousands of people in our part of the world by the tsunami waves triggered by an earthquake in Andaman sea, the question has been asked if we could have made better use of modern science and technology to prevent human suffering," he added.

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