Maharashtra disaster management plan - an overview
In the
District Control Room, the following desks are recommended to be set up for
improving the capability of the district administration to respond to disasters
more effectively : Operations disk, Service desk, Infrastructure desk, Health
desk, Logistics desk, Agriculture desk, Communication and Information Management
desk and Resources desk. Detailed instructions have been provided to the
district administration about the setting up of the District Control Room and
the VHF wireless network, linking all tahsil headquarters to the District
Control Room.
The involvement of the NGOs and community-based organisations like Tarun Mandals,
Mahila Mandals, etc., is very vital for the smooth implementation of the
District Disaster Management Plans. New institutional mechanisms for community
participation have been envisaged in the plans, like the setting up of the
Community Emergency Response Teams, Mutual Aid and Response Groups, etc.
Community participation is also sought in generating greater awareness about the
nature of each disaster, the type of damage that can occur, and the stress it
would generate, both at the family as well as the community level, and also the
mobilisation of communities to adopt risk reduction strategies and practices,
based on the coping strategies of stakeholders in similar disaster-prone
contexts.
District Disaster Management Plan
The Government of Maharashtra identified one district from each of the six revenue
divisions for preparing the multi-hazard response plans, with financial support
from the ODA, UK. This was also supplemented with the preparation of
multi-hazard response plans for the remaining 25 districts, with financial
support from the UNDP, through the Centre for Disaster Management at YASHADA.
These multi-hazard response plans include an exhaustive risk assessment and
vulnerability analysis of the district, with reference to earthquakes, floods
and cyclones, epidemics, road accidents and fire, and chemical and industrial
disasters. They also contain the multi-hazard response structure, capability
analysis, including an inventory of resources, and mitigation strategies, apart
from a directory of personnel and institutions in the districts with their
contact addresses, telephone and fax numbers. The response structure at the
state level is mentioned in the figure.
Disaster Management Information System
As a part of these multi-hazard response plans, the maps of the districts with
taluka-wise and village-wise details were prepared using ARCINFO, for developing
a comprehensive Disaster Management Information System (DMIS) by the Maharashtra
Remote Sensing Applications Centre(MRSAC), Nagpur. This Geographic Information
System (GIS) operates as a front-end with a disaster management database,
providing it flexibility to respond to user queries regarding village specific
details of availability of infrastructure.
This integrated facility of multi-hazard response plans, communication network, GIS
and Disaster geomorphology, geophysical data and data on climate like rainfall
pattern, temperature, wind Management Information System, can enhance the level
of preparedness of the district administration and also improve the capability
of the district machinery to respond to disasters more effectively. The thematic
data on natural resources are, like slope, soils, geology, land use, land cover,
drainage network, surface reservoirs, hydro-, humidity etc. The non-spatial data
consists of administrative setup, socio-economic and demographic profile of the
population, water resources, irrigation, health facilities, educational
infrastructure, animal husbandry, agriculture, power, infrastructure, industry,
fisheries, public distribution system, tourism, etc. All the villages in the
state have been assessed for the availability of various facilities listed above
and their infrastructure capabilities have been mapped and included in the
database to permit querying.
Mitigation
Measures
All districts have identified resource gaps while undertaking an inventory of
existing resources in each district, to improve the preparedness and capability
of the district administration in responding more effectively to future
disasters. Structural mitigation measures like strengthening of government and
public buildings have already been initiated. It is proposed to set up fire
brigades in strategic municipal towns where such facilities have not been
available for a very long time, and where the risk assessment studies indicate
that several neighbouring areas are prone to fires, based on past episodes.
Non-structural mitigation measures like the modification in zoning for
irrigation and building codes, earthquake-resistant construction for
non-engineered buildings, etc., have also been initiated.
The construction of adequate speed breakers, caution signboards and guard-stones on
highways, the setting up of Traffic-Aid posts at strategic locations, trauma
care facilities in district hospitals, bypass roads, identification of
accident-prone spots, improvement and strengthening of roads and bridges, etc.,
are also being carried out, to improve the preparedness of the district
administration to respond to disasters more effectively.
A District Disaster Management Committee assists the District Collector in every
districts, in reviewing the threat of various disasters, assessing the
vulnerability of the district, evaluating the preparedness, and considering
suggestions for improvement of the district disaster management plan.