Lok Sabha Question No. 2845 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-05-11
Subject: Mechanism to Deal with Disasters
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK, VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2845

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2016

## MECHANISM TO DEAL WITH DISASTERS

2845. DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL "NISHANK": SHRI VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  any  mechanism  has  been  developed  by  Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to deal with disasters;
- (b)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  agencies with which coordination has been developed at the State-level in this regard;
- (d) the special efforts made by the Government for promotion and  propagation  of  education  on  disaster  management  in inaccessible and remote areas; and
- (e) the  details  of  research  and  skill  development  programmes in disaster management in the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE

(DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

- (a)&(b)  Under its Disaster Management Support (DMS) Programme, Indian  Space  Research  Organisation  (ISRO)  supports  the disaster management activities in the country by means of providing  -  (i)  Aerial  and  Space  based  data  &  information services and (ii) Satellite based emergency communication services.

To  enable  these  services,  ISRO  has  set  up  a  Decision Support Centre (DSC) in 2005 at National Remote Sensing Centre  (NRSC),  Hyderabad  for  providing  data,  value  added products  and  information  services  in  near-real  time  to concerned Central and State departments. The DSC presently  supports  the  needs  of  various  natural  disasters such  as  Cyclone,  Flood,  Earthquake,  Tsunami,  Landslide and Forest Fire. In respect of agricultural drought, ISRO has developed and transferred the methodology to Mahalanobis National Centre for Crop Forecasting (MNCFC) under Department  of  Agriculture  and  Cooperation  &  Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW). ISRO also enables satellite based emergency communication services through portable satellite  phones  and  transportable  satellite  terminals  to facilitate  data  and  voice  transfer  between  inaccessible areas.  Further,  in  association  with  India  Meteorological Department (IMD) more than 200 Cyclone Warning Dissemination Systems are installed in the coastal areas.

- (c) ISRO  works  in close coordination with State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs), State Disaster Management (Relief) Departments (DMD), Water Resources Departments  (WRDs),  Forest  Departments,  State  Remote Sensing  Application  Centres  (SRSACs)  and  other  nodal agencies  associated  with  disaster  management  in  the States.  Also,  at  the  behest  of  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs (MHA),  ISRO  has  established  a satellite based  Virtual Private Network (VPN) comprising of 44 nodes, which linkups  National  Emergency  Operations  Centre  (NEOC),  State Emergency  Operations  Centres  (SEOCs),  Data  providing agency nodes and Observational nodes.
- (d) National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Delhi has been conducting training programmes on disaster management through satellite communication technology to reach  remote  and  inaccessible  areas,  web  based  online courses on disaster management and conducts training on Community  Based  Disaster  Management.  Further,  NIDM  is working  on  development  of  Disaster  Management  courses through e-pathshala programme of UGC.

ISRO/DOS  is conducting training programmes  to  State Government  officials,  National  Disaster  Response  Force (NDRF)  and  central  nodal  departments  on  utilisation  of geospatial products and services for Disaster Management including north-eastern States. During 2015 and 2016 NRSC has  trained  483  officers  on  utilisation  of  NDEM  portal comprising  of  geospatial  database,  value  added  products and services in support of emergency management.

- (e) Under its DMS  programme,  ISRO  undertakes  research towards the development of methodology for early warning systems,  tools  &  techniques  for  generating  value  added products;  geospatial  modeling  techniques,  web  &  mobile based applications and satellite based emergency communication systems.

Towards skill development, DSC regularly conducts orientation trainings for the state level disaster management  functionaries  to  familiarise  them  with  space technology, value added products & services and its utilisation during disaster relief and mitigation. Also, Indian Institute  of  Remote  Sensing  (IIRS)  at  Dehradun  regularly conducts  capacity  building  programmes  for  the  disaster management  professionals at senior, middle and field levels.

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