FT EXPERT LECTURE SERIES

An Insight into Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management from the

Perspective of IAF Operations
12TH August 2015, 4:30 PM 6:00 PM, GIDC BHAVAN
About the speaker
Wing Commander Dinesh Vaswani, is an alumnus of Mayo
College, Ajmer and as a young school boy, was awarded the prestigious
DUKE OF EDINBURGHs GOLD AWARD. He was also awarded by the
Lalit Kala Academy for arts and crafts besides holding a national record
in mountaineering for a little more than a decade. He was
COMMISSIONED in the Indian Air Force in 1991 as a transport pilot. He
has flown more than 3000 hours in all roles of transport aircraft. He is
also a qualified Missile operator and a para-jumper.
Wing Commander Dinesh Vaswani is presently posted in Head
Quarter South Western Air Command (SWAC) as Ops-2A, that is, in charge of all transport
aircraft and VIP movements. He is also the NODAL OFFICER for Disaster Management for
the complete SWAC region covering Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. His contribution
to all three state governments by way of sharing his practical and valuable knowledge of
handling disasters has been noteworthy. He also started annual training camps for district
level officials so as to reduce time frames in provisioning assistance.
Vaswani has been involved with COMMUNITY BASED DISASTER MANAGEMENT by
spreading his experience and knowledge of LAST MILE CONNECTIVITY through
international symposia, disaster management institutes, etc. He has been invited for his
talks by IIT, Nirma University, SVBIT, GIDM to name a few. He has the rare distinction of
being COMMENDED by Air Force, Navy and Army.
About the talk

When it comes to disaster management we find that there are several SOPs,
rule books, Acts enacted, plans drawn up, etc. However, each time a crisis
situation develops why is that there are more faux pas to talk about and lessons
learnt to carry back. Interestingly, we still don't learn and the mistakes continue to
be repeated. What is it that is being missed out? The policies, acts, SOPs , etc. do
adequately cover the broader aspects, however, at the basic or field level the
actual working hands have got no organized knowledge to handle every type of
situation. And the only way that every kind of situation can be covered is by
spreading awareness to each and every citizen, further to keep on and on drilling it
till it is understood like the back of one's hand.
It is this "Many a Slip Twixt the Cup and the Lip" that Wing Commander
Dinesh Vaswani would be covering in the expert talk utilizing a large number of

real life situations. The talk covers some basics of Disasters, an insight into Indian
Air Force structure and operations, while providing knowledge on the areas where
mistakes are made and methods to eliminate them....Community Based Disaster
Management.