Kathmandu, October 29

The 14th International Symposium on New Technology for Urban Safety of Mega Cities in Asia kicked of in Kathmandu today.

Minister for Industry Som Prasad Pandey inaugurated the symposium. In his inaugural remarks, he remembered those who lost their lives to the April 25 earthquake, which killed about 9,000 people and left more than 8,00,000 families homeless. Pandey reiterated commitment of the government to rebuilding in safer and better ways.

The symposium aims to share experiences on urban disaster safety and environmental management across the countries in the world and hold interaction among scientists, researchers, academics and decision makers from various countries.

A total of 87 scientific papers on different sectors such as disaster risk management, and urban planning and environmental considerations would be presented during the two-day symposium along with seven keynote presentations.

During the closing ceremony of 13th USMCA organised in Myanmar in November 2014, it was proposed that the symposium be held in Nepal considering the high risk of disasters in Nepal as well as continuous efforts of various organisations to reduce the risk.

The inaugural session was chaired by National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal president Shiva Bahadur Pradhanang, lawmaker Gangalal Tuladhar, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal Masashi Ogawa, chief representative of JICA Tsutomu Shimizu, Prof Kimiro Meguro from the University of Tokyo, Japan and Executive Director of NSET Dr Amod Mani Dixit adsressed the inaugural session.