The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) conferred the prestigious Sasakawa Award 2019 for Disaster Risk Reduction to Pramod Kumar Mishra, additional principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mishra was conferred with the honour in recognition of his “long-term dedication to improve the resilience of communities most exposed to disasters and his personal commitment to social inclusion as a critical principle to reduce inequality and poverty, enhancing the safety net of the socially and economically marginalised”, the government said in a statement.
He was presented the award during the sixth Session of Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, Switzerland. GPDRR is a biennial forum established by the UN General Assembly to review progress, share knowledge and discuss latest developments and trends in reducing disaster risk.
Other winners of Sasakawa Award 2019
- Sidnei Furtado, Director of Department of Civil Defence, Campinas, Brazil
- Bijal Brahmbhatt, Director of the Mahila Housing SEWA Trust of India
Sasakawa Award
- The Sasakawa Award is believed to be the most prestigious international award in disaster risk management and it began over 30 years ago.
- It is jointly organised by the UNDRR and the Nippon Foundation, with a total grant of $50,000 distributed among the winners. The winners could be either organisations or individuals.
- This year’s award theme was “Building Inclusive and Resilient Societies” and the UNDRR got more than 61 nominations from 31 countries.
