IT based disaster management for dists

GIS based plan, 'to remove arbitrary response to disasters'

As preparation to put Geographic Information System (GIS) based disaster management plan in place, a workshop was held for the officials of district administration, here on Friday.

The two day workshop, ‘Automation of Mysore District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP)’, is being organised by Center for Disaster Management, Administrative Training Institute.

Speaking at the workshop, R Manoj, Additional Mission Director, Sakala said that the standard operating procedures as outlined by the Disaster Management Authority are not being followed in districts of the State. 

As an example, he noted that the DDMP of Mysore district was published in 2010-11, with no updates made on an annual basis. “Disaster management in India is mostly on paper. There is limited access to real time, authentic, quantifiable information, which leads to communication gaps or even miscommunication in times of a disaster,” he said.

To sort out these issues, and to “remove arbitrary response to disasters”, Technology Automation for Management of Emergencies and Disasters (TAMED), has been introduced.

 TAMED will make use of technology to collect, store, analyse, communicate, co-ordinate and present authentic field information, he said. 

Before TAMED is set up, geo-coordinates of all resources which will be necessary in times of crisis, will be collected using 64 formats for data collection, he said. 

TAMED will run from a server located at each district centers, which will be supplied with 24 hour power, so that the computer can alert the concerned authorities during periods of crisis. All the necessary information, such as telephone numbers of government officers and other participating agencies in terms of crisis, will be fed into the server, he said.

With TAMED, DDMP will have a geo-information database, that can be used effectively when need arises, he said. District and taluk level officers are to compile a list of resources in the district, in formats provided to them. Compilation of a list of all necessary information may take up to six months, he said.