Making India Disaster Resilient

Dr. Vishwa Raj Sharma, Professor at the Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi, with more than 20 years of teaching and research experience. He received Ph.D. from the Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. His field of specialization is environmental issues, urban planning and disaster management. He has published a number of research papers in national and international journals. His recent book 'Making Cities Resilient' published from Springer, Switzerland in 2023. He participated and presented research papers in many conferences in India and abroad, such as International Geographical Union (IGU) conferences held at Kyoto, Japan (2013), Krakow, Poland (2014), IGU Moscow, Russia (2015) and IGU Congress in Beijing, China (2016), IGU, Paris, France (2022) and ICSSR-JSPS joint academic program in March 2023 in Japan as a lead collaborator.
He completed a major research project entitled "Appraisal of Urban Growth Dynamics and Pollution using GIS Techniques along River Yamuna", sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) under IMPRESS Scheme. He worked as a co-investigator of the international research project 'Emerging Mega Regions and Socio-Economic Developments in Contemporary India: A Study of Delhi Mega Region, sponsored by Hiroshima University, Japan'. He completed Major Research Project entitled 'Sustainable Tourism Management in Agra: Carrying Capacity Assessment and Modelling' sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) in the capacity of project director. He worked as Principal Investigator of two Innovation Research Projects 'Monitoring and Modeling Socio-Economic Impact of Land Use/Cover and Pollution along River Yamuna in Delhi' (2013-2014) and 'Earthquake Disaster Vulnerability Assessment and Management in Delhi' sponsored by University of Delhi (2015-2016).
He has been the convener of several national conferences and workshops and chaired and co-chaired sessions in conferences. Many institutions invited him to deliver lectures and talks from time to time. He received travel grants from University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2013 and 2016 and from Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in 2014 and ICSSR in 2022 to participate in international conferences abroad.
He contributed as a working group member for the revision of the Courses in University of Delhi and IGNOU. Presently he is the Academic Council Member of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra. He is also supervising and guiding Ph.D. students in University of Delhi. He contributed immensely in administrative, academic, cultural and social life of the college and University like Deputy Superintendent, Examinations, and Chief Coordinator admissions in SBS College.
He is a life member of several Academic and Professional bodies like NAGI, National Association of Geographers India, AGS, Association for Geographical Studies, Executive Member of Association for Geographical Studies, He represented as a Member of Advisory Board, Siddhant Raj Degree College affiliated to Dr. B R Ambedkar University, Agra and Member of Advisory Board, Centre for Disaster Management studies (CDMS) in Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. He is also a Member of International Geographical Union (IGU), Urban Commission on Urban Challenges in a Complex World and Commission on Megacities.
At present, Dr Chandrakanta is faculty at Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU)-Shillong-India. Before joining NEHU, she was faculty at Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (DU-Delhi) for more than 8 years. She is in teaching since 2009 and has taught at various others colleges also (Kamla Nehru College, B R Ambedkar College, Dyal Singh College) affiliated to University of Delhi (DU). She is MA in Geography from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)-Aligarh, M. P

Introduction and overview.- Value of case study method.- Part 1: Flood.- Urban flooding as an emerging challenge: Evidence from Chennai city.- Understanding flood risk and livelihood resilience in Begusarai.- Recent disasters in Kerala: Evidences from the field.- Flood plain mapping using Hecrus Model and geospatial techniques- A case study of varanasi city.- Part 2: Climate change and land use.- Contending global warming by popularising environment friendly fuel -Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).- Increasing vulnerability of Arabian Sea towards cyclonic storms.- Mapping agricultural drought vulnerability at regional level using GIS: A case study.- Part 3: Fire/Smog.- HRVC assessment of urban fire hazard: A case study of Malviya Nagar, Delhi.- Forest fire severity mapping using geospatial techniques: A case study of a part of Bandipur Reserve Forest, India.- Fire hazards in Anaj Mandi (Grain Market), Old Delhi: Vulnerability and resilience.- Assessment of fire disaster risk reduction in higher educational institutions in Delhi.- Part 4: Earthquake and other related hazards.- Earthquake awareness and preparedness survey of Yamuna River and surrounding region of Delhi.- Mapping fire, earthquake and bio-hazard in Delhi: A micro level study.- Surface deformation modelling using C-Band SAR Data - A case study on Shimla Town, Himachal Pradesh, India.- Part 5: Disaster and gender.- Gendered spaces, climate change and resilience in a Squatter Slum of Global South.- Part 6: Human aspects: Impact, vulnerability and governance.- Community participation in disaster risk reduction: A case study of Chamoli District, Uttarakhand.- Regulatory framework for regional cooperation on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in India and Globe.- Part 7: Summary.- Summary and concluding remarks.