Mumbai: G20 delegates visit emergency operations centre in BMC headquarters
May 23, 2023
Mumbai (Maharashtra) India, May 23 : The G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRRWG) delegates on Tuesday visited the heritage building of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters in Mumbai.
The delegates are in Mumbai for their second meeting starting on Tuesday.
The G20 DRRWG delegates received a traditional Maharashtrian welcome. They did a study tour of BMC's Disaster Management Department. The members of the delegation appreciated the Municipal Corporation's preparedness to handle various disasters as well as the prevention and mitigation measures of BMC.
G20 Delegates Inspected the EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) works. EOC serves as a Command and Control agency between the administration and field units. It is a single-point source for all issues related to disaster management. It coordinates with various key stakeholders for a quick and effective response during a disaster. The EOC is also equipped with a HAM radio setup.
All types of complaints related to disasters/emergencies along with civic complaints are received at the EOC. The complaints are then forwarded to the concerned agencies and, thereafter, regular updates are taken and communicated to the citizens.
"BMC doing great work towards disaster and stopping Rainfall, we put pumps in the city, BMC has EOC and disaster room they monitor rainfall and indicate the warning Signal," BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal told ANI.
"BMC Disaster Management Department is preparing multi-hazard, vulnerability, and risk assessment plan. We are glad we are part of G20. We welcome our delegations we will show them our 128 years old heritage at BMC headquarters," he added.
Delegate from South Africa Pumeza Lauretta Tyali told ANI, "I saw BMC EOC rooms that are built very nice as they are equipped with modern equipment. We should Work on Climate change and as a part of G20 we are discussing Disaster Risk Reduction and how can we control the Risk factor by identifying them in modern ways."
The BMC Disaster Management Department is preparing a multi-hazard, vulnerability, and risk assessment plan in association with UNDP. The said plan will be available on the ArcGIS platform for a decision support system.
The Disaster Management department is also in the process of developing various predictive/early warning system modules for various hazards for early action. The same will also be made available for citizens. Considering the importance of citizens' participation and making the community resilient, NDMA took an initiative by which BMC's Disaster Management Department has trained 1000 volunteers who will work with BMC during the crisis as 'Aapada Mitra' and 'Sakhi'.
