The Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management (CDMM) was inaugurated in January 2006 by the Honorable Home Minister of India Shri. Shivraj Patil in the gracious presence of General NC Vij., Vice Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India and patronized by VIT with stateof-art infrastructure. It was the first centre to be set up in India for disaster mitigation and management after the National Disaster Management Act was passed in Parliament in December 2005. The major activities of the centre are Research & Development, Consultancy Services in Disaster Reduction Programs (like., Storage tank protection, Firefighting system design, Industrial Safety, and mapping natural disasters), Innovative Disaster Education Initiatives, Knowledge Networking & Partnerships.
The centre aims to achieve excellence in the key areas of research on par with international standards. The centre works towards addressing some of the regional issues and concerns, especially in condition monitoring of structures through non-destructive testing, disaster risk reduction, Environmental Management, Safety and Sustainability.
The centre has a team of professionals from various disciplines such as Structural & Geotechnical Engineering, Geological studies, Fire, Industrial Disasters, Chemical disasters, and Geospatial Technology (Remote Sensing, GIS, GPS, Surveying, Digital Photogrammetry, etc.). The research focus of CDMM includes hazard mapping, vulnerability analysis, risk assessment, modelling and forecasting for both natural and man-made disasters. The centre facilitates seminars, workshops, training & capacity development programmes to the students, academicians, industrial employees and officials from Government and NonGovernment organisations. Research and consultancy projects are carried out through sponsored funding from the Ministries and Departments of the Government of India and International Donors like UNDP-India, Provention Consortium / Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), Social Science and Humanities Research Council (UK), Geophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, etc.