Disaster Management

As per the Disaster Management Act 2005, the State Disaster Management Authority and District Disaster Management Authority are constituted,   chaired by Hon’ble Administrator and Collector, UTL. The structures of the authorities are appended below.

To strengthen the Island level disaster management system, an Island Level Disaster Management committee has also been formed. The composition of the authority is appended below.

In order to have disaster resistant buildings, a Hazards Safety Cell has constituted.   The activity undertaken by this cell is to create awareness on various kinds of hazards.   All future construction by LPWD should be based on National Building to ensure safety of the building and structures from various hazards like flooding, Earthquake, cyclone which has potential to become disaster.  Hazards Safety Cell established as per the direction of MHA.

The Composition of the safety Hazard cell:-

Chairman:-

Collector-cum-Development Commissioner

Members:-

1. Superintendent of Police
2. Additional District Magistrate
3. Superintending Engineer (LPWD)
4. Director, Port Shipping & Aviation
5. Director of Panchayats
6. Executive Engineer, Electrical

The Disaster Management Authority is the core centre of disaster preparedness planning, early warning, emergency management, recovery management and mitigation planning. During crisis it is expected to function as a center for decision making and help flow of information to the respected departments and other Islands for smoother relief operations.

The activities undertaken by the Disaster Management Authority is as follows:-

Normal Time Activities

1. Updation of Disaster Management Plan.
2. Ensure updation of Island level resource inventory.
3. update the hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment of the UTL.
4. Concurrent assessment of hydro-meteorological and geological data received from Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and Global Disaster Alerting Coordination System (GDACS.
5. Maintain the disaster database of the UTL.
6. Ensure proper functioning of alternate communication systems of VSAT. Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) has facility of Voice Telephony with add on ATA. VSAT has been connected to 120 State Emergency Operation centres (SEOC)/District Emergency Operations Centres (DEOC) in India.
7. Issue warnings to Police, Health, ELE, DCs/SDOs , AIR , other line departments and if necessary to public based on specific warnings from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Geological Survey of India (GSI), Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), National Emergency Response Centre (NERC) etc.
8. Communication of specific directions issued by MHA to the DCs/SDOs.
9. Monitoring preparedness measures undertaken at Island level.
10. Updating the Indian Disaster Resource Network (IDRN).
11. Conducting Mock Exercise & other Capacity building progarmmes.
12. Developing standard operating procedures.

Emergency Time activities

• Communication of the disaster events to the members of the DDMA for further necessary action from the respective departments.
• Monitoring emergency operations in Islands.
• Coordinate with nodal departments to ensure optimal response to the appropriate disaster events.
• Communication of early warnings and event reports of L1& L3 level disasters to:
  • Hon’ble Administrator, UTL
  • Collector, UTL
  • Additional District Magistrate, UTL
  • DCs/SDOs, UTL
  • Other Line departments Higher officials, UTL
• Communication of L3 disasters to National Disaster Management Authority and Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India.
• Direct the DCs/SDOs with appropriate messages to be communicated to control rooms in the concerned Islands for implementation.

Post Disaster Activities

• Updates to the MHA, NDMA, NERC, NDRF etc regarding damages and relief operations
• Coordinate post disaster damage assessment for preparation of calamity memorandum if deemed necessary.
• Maintain information of damage, relief materials to the Islands and ongoing relief activities.
• Financial Assistance to the beneficiaries as per the SDRF norms.

Precedence contact numbers during emergency