| On December
23, 2005, Government of India, enacted the
Disaster Management Act, by an Act of Parliament
and thus formally recognized the importance
of Disaster Management and its importance
as a national issue. The DM Act leads to
setting up of the National Disaster Management
Authority, under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble
Prime Minister of India and State DM Authorities
under the respective Hon’ble Chief
Ministers. |
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The purpose of these
initiatives by the GoI is to spearhead and
implement a holistic & integrated approach
to Disaster Management.
The new Approach is – emphasis on
Prevention, Mitigation & Preparedness,
rather than being only reactive and relief
centric. The DM Continuum comprises of six
elements i.e., Prevention, Mitigation and
Preparedness in Pre-disaster phase, and
Response, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
in post-disaster phase. |
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(Content & Illustration Courtesy:
http://ndma.gov.in) |
| NDMA has a mission
mode approach with a number of initiatives
to implement the visions and the Policies
have been set in conformity with International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Rio Declaration,
Millennium Development Goals and the Hyogo
Framework 2005-15, etc. |
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Some of the Stated
Objectives are:
- Mainstreaming DM concerns into the
development planning process.
- Putting in place a streamlined institutional
techno-legal framework in order to create
and preserve the integrity of an enabling
regulatory environment and a compliance
regime.
- Developing contemporary forecasting
and early warning systems backed by
responsive and fail-safe communications
and Information Technology (IT) support.
- Promoting a productive partnership
with the Media, NGOs and the Corporate
Sector in the areas of awareness generation
and capacity development.
- Ensuring efficient response and relief
with a caring humane approach towards
the vulnerable sections of the society.
(info courtesy: http://ndma.gov.in)
- In pursuance of these objectives,
a state of the art call centre is operational
round the clock in the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) since March, 2005.
- Public can access the MHA call centre
by dialing 1070 from Delhi and 011-1070
from anywhere in India
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Vcon Services (P)
Ltd. has aimed to take the Governments
objectives further and contribute to Disaster
Management mitigation for the citizens
of India, and its quest to do so, currently
provides:
- Round the clock access for public
to report First Information on natural
or manmade disasters as well as receiving
updates on disasters.
- Issuing SMS based alert messages to
responsible officers of the government
as well as agencies responsible for
response such as police, fire brigade,
municipal agencies, hospitals etc.
- Archiving of voice calls and data
related to disasters for subsequent
analysis and updating of Standard Operating
Procedure (SOP) for Disaster Management
(DM)
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Case Study.1
Delhi Disaster Management Authority:
Need –
- Delhi is divided into 9 districts.
These districts are headed by independent
administrative authorities and there
was always an issue of information sharing
and coordinated response to disaster
situations
- It was also difficult for any individual
or any agency to get help in the event
of any manmade or natural disasters,
incase this occurs after office hours
or when government offices are closed
during week ends or national holiday.
- To overcome this limitation Government
of Delhi and NCT planned a centralized
facility (call centre) to support Delhi
State Emergency Operation Centre (EOC)
where people can reach or communicate
about any disasters anytime.
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VCON Solution -
A Emergency Response Call Centre was
set-up by M/s VCON Services for the benefit
of Delhi Disaster Management Authority
(DDMA) and is operational round the clock
(24X7), since 1st of March 2008. This
facility is manned and operated by VCON
personnel round the clock. |
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| The call centre was
officially inaugurated by Ms. Sheila Dixit,
Hon. Chief Minister of Delhi on 24th June
2008.The Response Center was designed keeping
in mind the nature of expected Emergency
Call Flows, desired response systems, storage
and management of those calls and Dissemination
of information, with escalation procedures,
etc. thereof. |
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| VCON designed the facility
with its state of the art Physical and IT
infrastructure and communications features,
developed its Customized Software, incorporating
sophisticated Computer and Server systems,
IVRS, Voice Loggers, Digital PABX systems,
Filtered and Stabilized Mains Power and
Back up power systems, etc. |
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VCON has also provided
its own team of trained and skilled personnel,
which responds to citizen emergencies
in this 24x7 Mission Critical mode, with
the 4 Digit Short Code Access No 1077.
We expect the Delhi DM Authority to expand
this facility to cover more districts
soon, so as to cover all the 9 districts
of Delhi, before the Commonwealth Games
in 2010.
Efforts are on by VCON to set up similar
Emergency Response Operations in other
States and Districts across India. |
