PM’s additional principal secretary bags UN's top honour for exemplary contribution in disaster mitigation

UNITED NATIONS, GENEVA: Prime minister’s additional principal secretary P K Mishra has bagged the prestigious Sasakawa award 2019, the UN’s top honour given every two years to an individual or institutions for their exemplary contribution in the field of disaster mitigation.
The award carries a cash prize of $50,000 (around Rs 36 lakh) which will be distributed among all the winners. This year there are three winners of the Sasakawa award, two from India—PK Mishra and Mahila Housing Sewa Trust. The third winner is from Brazil, Department of Civil Defense of Campinas.
The Mahila Housing SEWA Trust has been recognized for its “innovative and inclusive approach” in empowering women living in slums, enhancing their resilience against recurrent disasters.
Mishra has been awarded for a “lifetime of dedication” to improving the resilience of communities most exposed to flooding, 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 marginalized”.
The Sasakawa awards were constituted in 1986 by Nippon foundation chairman Ryoichi Sasakawa. Since then, the UN has been awarding $50,000 of prize money in each of the three categories -- World Health Organization’s Sasakawa Health Prize, UN Environment Programme’s Sasakawa Environment Prize and the Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction.
“It recognizes individuals, organizations and initiatives that have best contributed to ensuring inclusive, accessible and non-discriminatory participation in disaster risk reduction activities for all sections of society, especially the poor,” said Brigitte Leoni, head of media at UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the chief coordinator for the Sasakawa award.
More than 60 nominations were received for this year’s Sasakawa award. Out of the 14 who were shortlisted, there were three from India, of which two have been awarded— PK Mishra and Mahila Sewa Trust.
“We received many excellent projects, and the choice was not easy to make but the finalists are the ones who demonstrated the most durable, sustained and comprehensive and inclusive approach towards disaster risk reduction,” said Marcie Roth, jury member and president and CEO of Inclusive Emergency Strategies LLC.