New Delhi, July 10, 2013: A five-member team of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) will leave for Uttarakhand on Wednesday on a four-day study trip to set up a system which would alert the local population about any impending natural disaster thereby mitigating the impact of any natural calamity.

Disclosing this important piece of information on the sidelines of a seminar on “Earthquake Warning and Security System in India” in the Capital on Tuesday, NIDM Professor and Head, Geo Hazards Division Chandan Ghosh said: “We will first go to Dehradun and study pictures taken by the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Indian Air Force of the areas before they were hit by flashfloods and after the disaster struck. We will travel to areas worst hit by flashfloods and interview the affected population. How badly the infrastructure has been damaged will also be studied.”

Representatives of the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun; Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; and North Eastern Hills University, Shillong will work with the NIDM team.

Professor Ghosh said the NIDM team will also make use of technological aids to forewarn the local population about any natural disaster. “Each day and every hour, satellite data is collected. We will procure the data from ISRO and Quick Bird, a high resolution commercial earth observation satellite, and assimilate it and create a model to warn the locals about impending earthquake or flashflood.”

Professor Ghosh noted that ever since disaster struck the Himalayan State, NIDM has been keeping in touch with those at the helm of affairs in the State. He added: “We have been using our website to keep in touch with the Uttarakhand Government and will help in reconstruction measures. During our visit, we will check the health of bridges, which have survived the natural calamity.”

Pointing out that the Indian Meteorological Department had failed to alert the State Government about flashfloods, Professor Ghosh said IMD had predicted heavy rainfall but did not predict flashfloods. “The disaster covered 40,000 square km area. At the moment, IMD gives only weather forecast. It does not have a system to alert the locals about flashfloods. Forecast of floods is the responsibility of the Central Water Commission. The system should cover last mile connectivity so that the damage is mitigated.”

As far as earthquakes are concerned, NIDM is endorsing an earthquake warning and security system.

“NIDM trains people and also checks scientific products and endorses those which it feels are efficacious and for the larger good of the country. This system will send early morning message to people living in vulnerable areas to enable them to evacuate to safe places.”

Source: The Hindu, DT. July 10, 2013.