Lok Sabha Question No. 350 (STARRED), answered on 2015-12-23
Subject: Disaster Management by ISRO
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 350

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

## DISASTER MANAGEMENT BY ISRO

- *350. DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL "NISHANK":

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed any disaster management mechanism, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  space  department  has  link-ups  with  various State  agencies  for  the  purpose,  if  so,  the  details  thereof; and
- (c) the programmes being implemented by the Government for research and skill development in space technology?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

(a)to(c)  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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O.I.H.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY TO "DISASTER MANAGEMENT  BY  ISRO'  ASKED  BY  DR.  RAMESH  POKHRIYAL "NISHANK"  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  WEDNESDAY,  DECEMBER  23,

STARRED QUESTION NO.350 REGARDING 2015.

- (a) 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, 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.

- (b) At the behest of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), ISRO has established a satellite based Virtual Private Network (VPN) comprising of 44 nodes, which link-ups National Emergency Operations  Centre  (NEOC),  State  Emergency  Operations Centres (SEOCs), Data providing agency nodes and Observational nodes. Also, 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.
- (c) Under  DMS  programme,  ISRO  undertakes  research  towards the  development  of  methodology  for  early  warning  systems, tools  &  techniques  for  generating  value  added  products, geospatial modelling 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  Dehra  Dun  regularly conducts  capacity  building  programmes  for  the  disaster management  professionals at senior, middle and field levels.

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