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4. Compilation and Analysis of Information to provide Decision Support System

• Abhiyan had carried out a rapid damage assessment of the affected area in Kachchh in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR). EPC-Geographis personnel were involved in processing the data for producing thematic maps. These maps helped several agencies including government, World Bank and Asian Development Bank to make decisions on their areas of operation.
• Janvikas had carried out surveys through Navsarjan, an Ahmedabad based NGO to assess the household damages of dalit families in Surendranagar, Banaskantha, Patan, Jamnagar and Rajkot districts initially. This database was analyzed and thematic maps were prepared for the no. of below poverty line families, percentage of damages etc.
• Area Networking and Development Initiatives (ANANDI), a Rajkot based NGO was in process of providing temporary shelters to the poor families in Morvi and Maliya talukas of Rajkot district. They also had carried out survey for the damage assessment in these talukas. This data was analyzed and thematic maps were prepared, which had been used for presentation and report making.
• VIKAS, an Ahmedabad based NGO was involved in rehabilitation of affected villages of Bharuch District.
• National Centre for Disaster Management (NCDM) was in process of preparing model for Disaster Management Plan. They selected Santalpur taluka of Patan district of Gujarat state for this purpose. A GIS based map linked with database was provided by Geographis.
• Moreover, data from various agencies such as primary survey done by Abhiyan, TISS and GIDR, UNDP and government departments such as collector's office, district development officer's office was collected, analyzed and compiled by EPC-Geographis and thematic maps were generated regularly.
• This information was regularly shared with various agencies involved in rescue and relief operations including government departments. Various types of thematic maps were generated based on this information and census of 1991 (See Annexure-I for list of thematic maps).
• These maps were used by World Health Organization (WHO), Rural Development Trust, Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) -Delhi, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), ISKCON, Oxfam, Hindustan Lever Limited, collector's office, HOPE Foundation etc. These maps helped NGOs in taking decisions regarding setting up of a center and prioritization of villages to start rehabilitation operations.

5. Setting up of Sub-Centres
ETAC was an immediate response to the critical circumstances but planning inputs are more crucial in long-term recovery. For this purpose, Initiative for Planned and Participatory Reconstruction (IPPR) was conceived. The main objective of the project was to put together a Planning Guide for Post Disaster (Earthquake) Recovery through various experiments. Under this project, it was decided to set up a network of sub-centres across Kachchh to carry out massive relief and rehabilitation operations in participatory manner. EPC helped Abhiyan in setting up first sub-centre at Kodki, under which 18 surrounding villages were covered. The main tasks of sub-centre include,

• Serve as a nodal point to provide link between government and local people of the villages covered under each sub-centre
• Capacity building of village level samities to take care of their own affairs and planning and charting reconstruction methodologies and providing training inputs to community leaders, volunteers and field workers
• Collection and dissemination of information

About 23 sub-centres were set up by Abhiyan in Kachchh district. The information collected by each sub-centre in a specific format was sent to the information center. This information was processed in information center and thematic maps along with reports were generated. These maps were sent to sub-centres which helped them in prioritizing various activities and allocating funds.

6. Setting up of Rehabilitation Information management System (RIMS)
After that Kachchh Rehabilitation Information Cell (KRIC) was set up with clear and focused objective to speed up the process of information collection, collation, processing, dissemination, to improve coordination and to avoid duplicating efforts by UNDP and Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA). Major activities of this cell include,

• Designing formats for data collection
• Data collection
• Software development
• Mapping of information
• Data entry and analysis

Rehabilitation Information Management System (RIMS) was developed to put Setu information and government data on one platform, which can help generating various reports along with the maps periodically. For this purpose GIS was linked with RIMS to generate dynamic maps. This combination gave the user two front ends to view the reports in tabulated formats in RIMS and on maps.

7. Preparation of Post Disaster Reconstruction Atlas for Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar, Kachchh District
EPC was commissioned by United States-Asian Environmental Program (USAEP) to prepare an atlas for post-disaster reconstruction for four earthquake affected towns of Kachchh district viz. Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar to assess and document the damage caused by the earthquake through a set of thematic city maps. The main objective was to facilitate the reconstruction process by mapping information that would provide critical inputs for rehabilitation, reconstruction and preparation of development plans of towns. The base maps of four towns were provided by Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited (GUDC). EPC-Geographis updated these base maps using IRS 1C/1D PAN satellite images. A detailed field survey was carried out for all the plots/ buildings to collect information on

• Land use/Building use
• Intensity of damage
• Height of buildings

These thematic maps along with databases were provided to the town planning consultants of respective cities.

8. Computerization of Land use, Geological, Geomorphological and Seismotectonic Maps of Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar Region
Geographis was commissioned by GUDC for computerization of various regional level thematic maps of Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar Regions. These maps were prepared by Geological Survey of India from satellite images and ground survey. The series of maps include,

• Land use maps
• Geological maps
• Geomorphological maps
• Geohydrological maps
• Drainage maps
• Slope maps
• Seismotectonic maps
• Foundation Grade maps

These maps were overlaid with town maps for further analysis and provided to the town planning consultants of the respective towns.