Indian in race for top role at Chinese body

An Indian geophysicist is in the race to head the China Earthquake Administration (CEA), which frames and implements the country’s development strategies and sets standards for disaster mitigation.

If elected, Paramesh Banerjee will likely be the first Indian to head an institution like the CEA which works directly under the State Council, China’s cabinet.

Banerjee is among four scientists shortlisted to head the Institute of Geophysics, CEA’s top scientific organisation, state media reported. He is currently the technical director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore and president of Asian Seismological Commission.

Banerjee, an alumnus of the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad, earlier worked at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun.

“He has a doctoral degree in applied geophysics and leads a team of scientists and engineers who are responsible for design, installation, maintenance and data processing for all types of geophysical and geochemical field instrumentation networks, monitoring volcanoes and tectonically active regions in South and Southeast Asia,” state-run China Daily newspaper said in a report.

Banerjee, who was speaking to the newspaper after a rigorous interview, said as the world’s second largest economy, “….China should not have so many people die from earthquakes”. HTC

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