Kerala - Kochi   

Ernakulam not disaster-combative yet

G. Krishnakumar

Lack of management plan hampering rescue operations

KOCHI: Lack of a scientific disaster management plan is hampering rescue and relief operations in Ernakulam district.

The delay in response to an emergency was evident when the gas leak occurred at Irumpanam, near Thripunitura, on Thursday night. The district administration and police authorities could not put their act together during the initial hours of the crisis.

Residents of Irumpanam were caught unawares when the gas leak occurred at around 7.30 p.m. When the odour became unbearable, panic spread in various colonies in the area. People fled from their homes fearing that the situation might go out of control. Many families moved to safer locations in private vehicles.

Help started coming in only after the residents staged a road blockade alleging that the district administration and police authorities failed to act immediately after the incident occurred. Lack of knowledge about the protocol to be adopted at the time of an emergency got exposed at this hour.

The authorities had to search for a safer place in the region to shift hundreds of families. Finally, they had to break open the gate to enter the premises of Government Boy's High School at Thripunitura. By this time, the odour fainted forcing many to return to their homes.

An action plan was missing at this point. The authorities were slow in assigning responsibilities to agencies at different levels.

Disaster management continues to be a problem for the administrators despite the National Informatics Centre (NIC) including Ernakulam district among other places in the country for the implementation of the Geographical Information System (GIS)-based emergency planning and response system.

NIC software

The NIC has a software package for supporting emergency planning and response efforts at the district level. This package was developed using the GIS platform.

Under the GIS platform, the user can view the industry data in terms of chemicals, resources, contact persons and location. The software package supports calculation of areas, distances, and even population under the template. Response information of all the chemicals inventoried for Ernakulam is in-built in the package and can be accessed from multiple locations.

The software has many useful features that are critical for emergency planners and managers, who can refer to all the information by the click of a button rather than having to look up a number of voluminous documents.

Outcome of all possible emergency scenarios is pre-programmed and stored in the database. Technical information related to response to each chemical is also included. Despite the availability of such support systems, the planners are struggling to chalk out measures to meet an emergency.

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