Guwahati : A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Wednesday (July 31) between the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) and CivicDataLab (CDL) in order to amplify its data-driven efforts for mitigating and adapting to the ever increasing extreme weather events in Assam like floods.

The MoU was signed at Janata Bhawan in Assam’s capital Guwahati in presence of state Chief Secretary Ravi Kota. This initiative is a collaborative effort to improve government resource allocation for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

The Chief Secretary in his speech said that Assam can become a role model for different states across the country by adopting such innovative initiatives.

Explaining the importance of data-driven decision making, he said that this kind of effort can be adopted in different state ministries and sectors to improve data for governance, especially for building climate resilience.

He emphasised the need for collaboration to ensure inclusive and effective disaster mitigation, including all the government agencies to enhance a holistic climate mitigation strategy.

Principal Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ASDMA Gyanendra Dev Tripathi summarised the proposed collaboration objectives in the state which is an encouraging step towards increasing innovation and adoption of data technologies for DRR.

The programme was also attended virtually by Special Secretary of Himachal Pradesh Dunichand Rana who explained the vulnerabilities being faced by his state. Lauding CDL’s initiative, he shared the road-map chalked out for the deployment of this solution in Himachal Pradesh over the next 18 months.

Co-founder and Executive Director of CDL Gaurav Godhwani thanked the Assam government and all the dignitaries present for its support to build data-driven solutions for policy reform.

Sharing the organisation’s work in Assam and across India, Godhwani demonstrated the unique features of the intelligent data solution for DRR at the ceremony. The MoU was signed by Gyanendra Dev Tripathi on behalf of ASDMA? and Gaurav Godhwani on behalf of CDL.