Coordination Meeting for issuing Disaster alerts held at NDMA

A Meeting to co-ordinate issuing of disaster alerts by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was organized at the NDMA Bhawan New Delhi on 17 June.   The meeting chaired by Shri R.K. Jain, Member was well att6ended by representatives of various Ministries/ Departments, including Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ministry of Water Resources, IMD and CWC.

Mrs Roop Sharma, President Cable Operators Federation of India was also invited so that cable networks all over the country can be used to send the disaster alerts when the need arises.

This meeting is in line with the National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) which was released by the Honorable Prime Minister of India on 1st June 2016. The Plan emphasizes the importance of Generating and dissemination of Early Warning with regard to various Natural Hazards. 

Early Warnings on Weather forecast including data of METAR (Meteorological Terminal Aviation Routine Weather Report- used by Civil Aviation Industry) can prove to be quite effective in communicating to the general public about impending Cyclones/Cloud bursts/Thunderstorm/Heavy rainfall etc. IMD and CWC are responsible for providing early warnings. There is need to disseminate these extreme weather forecasts well in time to public through press, radio and cable TV in a standardized format.

Communication and sharing of up-to-date information using state-of-the-art IT infrastructure remain at the heart of effective implementation of the disaster management strategy. Reliable, up-to date and faster sharing of geo-spatial information acquired from the field or the affected areas is a pre-requisite for effective implementation of disaster management strategies.

For dissemination of advance warning and information, broadcasting mediums such as television and radio has to be used significantly as they have higher geographical reach. The disaster management plan envisage use of cable operators for disseminating information on present weather and realized severe weather conditions every three hours. This includes warnings on thunderstorms, dust storms and heavy rainfalls. Apart from cable TV, it is also planned to use electronic media like TV, internet, print media, e-mail and phone for sending alerts.

Source: http://cablequest.org/index.php/news/national-news/item/8947-coordination-meeting-for-issuing-disaster-alerts-held-at-ndma

Source: http://cablequest.org/index.php/news/national-news/item/8947-coordination-meeting-for-issuing-disaster-alerts-held-at-ndma