DDMA approves disaster plans to tackle calamities in Delhi

To make Delhi a disaster- resilient city, Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday has approved State Disaster Management Plan (SDMP) and District Disaster Management Plan to deal with any calamity in the national capital.According to senior officials, vulnerable areas and people have been identified in the plans in case of any disasters including earthquake, floods, building collapse, etc. Meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority was held in Raj Niwas where both the proposals were approved.

lt Governor Najeeb Jung chaired the meeting of the Authority. It was attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia along with other senior officials. During the meeting, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal emphasised on making the disaster plans more inclusive by focusing on slum dwellers and unauthorised colonies which have maximum vulnerability during any disaster. The plan outlines function of Government agencies in case of any disaster.

"The plans delineate the roles and functions of different Government agencies in both pre-disasters and post-disasters phase. The timelines have been set for various activities to have a robust response system as part of Standard Operating Procedure. "The resources, manpower and the equipments have been mapped which can be scrambled during emergency on the web-based India Disaster Resource Network (IDRN) which are updated continuously," a senior official said.

As per the plan, various mitigation measures like retrofitting of buildings and old infrastructures, empanelment of structural engineers are to be taken. The plan emphasises on establishment of District Disaster Management Centres in each of the 11 districts in coordination with Delhi Fire Service. At the community level, the plan emphasises on establishment of 33 community disaster management centres, one for each subdivisions to be controlled by Deputy Chief Warden of Civil Defence of respective Sub-Divisions. The plan also discussed about augmenting Quick Response Teams of DDMA.