Mumbai: BMC to step up its disaster management focus

Ramabai Nagar in Ghatkopar remains waterlogged a day after cyclone Nisarga hit the state in June last year. File pic

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to take its disaster management work a step higher, for which a budget provision of R18.26 crore has been made. In the upcoming year, the civic body will carry out three types of work - Seismic Microzonation, Tsunami Atlas and Hazard Vulnerable Risk Assessment (HVRA) - in the city. While through Seismic Microzonation they will mostly study the effects of earthquakes and come up with mitigation measures, the HVRA will mainly deal with data of natural and man-made disasters and how the city can be prepared for it. Apart from these, the BMC also plans to set up disaster control rooms at 13 municipal hospitals to get real-time update during an emergency.

Currently the disaster management plan for the city only includes issues related to water logging and building collapses. Sources said that the HVRA would help the BMC find out whether Mumbai is prone to natural disasters and how they can be dealt with. For example, if an area is more prone to earthquakes, then the buildings there will be constructed or revamped accordingly.

The objective of HVRA is to investigate prominent natural, man-made disasters, their severity and identify any threats that may require timely and coordinated response to protect lives, property and reduce economic and social losses. The HVRA will be integrated into the artificial intelligence and machine learning-based Decision Support System (DIS) enabling optimal response from the administration in such situations.

Meanwhile, control rooms will be set up at 13 municipal hospitals to provide information related to casualties admitted during emergency situations to the main control room. The control rooms will also monitor and deal with law and order issues at the hospitals and communicate the same to the agencies concerned. They will also monitor the activities inside the hospitals through CCTV cameras.

Requesting anonymity, a civic official said, "The agency to be appointed for this will not only conduct studies but also suggest mitigation measures. All of the data will be integrated into our existing system for us to know how to act promptly during emergencies."