GUWAHATI: The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) held a day-long inception workshop here on Thursday on its two collaborative projects with the Earth Institute of Columbia University and the Columbia Water Centre (CWC), a branch of the Earth Institute, Sustainable Urbanism International, Bangalore, IIT Delhi and IIT Guwahati.

The ASDMA is implementing two projects - disaster risk reduction, including climate change adaptation of Guwahati in the context of dynamic growth, and water resource and flood and erosion risk mitigation planning in Assam - in view of the growing changes in the urban scenario of the city and their impact on its topography.

"What happened in Uttarakhand is worrisome. This region is vulnerable to natural disasters and has experienced several disasters - be it floods or earthquakes. It is important to discuss the early warnings and how things can be implemented properly. The chief minister is very keen on these projects," said revenue and disaster management minister Prithibi Majhi.

The first project will take two years to be completed. It will include identification of features of the local climate and its projections for the Guwahati Metropolitan Authority (GMA), mapping vulnerabilities to climate extremes and assessing future risks based on past trends of growth of the GMA, inclusion of stakeholders' institutions and development of adaptation solutions for climate extremes in the GMA.

"The focus is on the dynamism of climate change and the changing urban scenario of the city. It is an attempt to understand the extent of the changes. We need to study different models. This will help lay down the ground rules for the future," said Shiv Someshwar, director of Climate Policy Centre on Globalization and Sustainable Development of the Earth Institute, Columbia University.

Someshwar said the projects are action research-based and the emphasis is how this research can be applied. The second project would focus on a transferable database of flood impact in Assam, flood risk evaluation and improving flood forecasting, erosion risk, climate change and others.

"The onus of the projects is on what can be done so that development gains are not affected and how we can do certain things and what we should avoid. Whatever we did locally was not enough and need to understand the consequences of our actions. The city is under extreme pressure and we need to see how we can make it a better place," said V K Pipersenia, additional chief secretary.