BMC to seek assistance from UNDP to upgrade its disaster management cell

@Vikas_Nag_1987

Mumbai: During the rainy season metro cities like Mumbai are often witness to flooding, high tide, cyclone, landslide, building collapses, due to which loss of life and property is reported. Although Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has upgraded its Fire Brigade, at times even that falls short during the natural calamities. T

Hence, to equip itself with advanced technology and resources, and to minimise damages, the BMC has now decided to get support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Recently, a team of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) visited BMCs Disaster management cell to discuss various new and advanced techniques to deal with natural calamities like flood, high tide, cyclone, landslide, building collapse and others.

For a period of 15 days, UNDP will work together with disaster management of BMC and to assist, study, understand the system, resources and techniques of the disaster management team.

Based on the report, the UNDP will make prepare the terms and conditions on what has to be upgraded in the system, resource and technique of the disaster management team to upgrade it to international level to deal with such disasters, so that help can be provided in the shortest possible time and the loss of public money can be avoided. BMC will also prepare for how we have to face natural calamities like Tsunami and earthquakes.

Speaking to thenews21.com Additional municipal commissioner of BMC Suresh Kakani said “In our meeting with the UNDP, we have provided information regarding the preparedness of the BMC which they said was below international standards. UNDP will work with BMC to study our system and based on it they will prepare a report in the next 15 days as a suggestion of international preparedness to deal with such disasters. On the same basis, we will strengthen disaster management. So that such disasters can be dealt with in a better way.”

Kakani further added, even after all the preparations in Mumbai, every year during the rainy season, water gets accumulated in the low-lying areas. When it rains heavily, water enters the houses and shops. Which untold hardships especially to the people living in low lying areas .

The situation worsens during high tide in the sea. UNDP will guide us the international way of dealing with such incidents. Similarly, every year buildings collapse in Mumbai in which many people die and many people get injured along with financial loss.

In Mumbai, along with National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), fire brigade and other agencies are engaged in relief and rescue operations. It is our endeavour that the damage caused in such incidents can be minimised. With the help of UNDP, we will make our preparedness to the international standard. Despite being situated on the seashore, cyclones rarely come in the direction of Mumbai. But within 15 months, Mumbaikars had to face three cyclones like cyclone Tauktae.

Due to the many preparations done in the past, there was not much damage caused during cyclone Tauktae. But anything can happen in the future. So, we have to strengthen our preparations further. So that we can deal with such disasters in a better way. There are hillocks at places in Mumbai where people are living by building their houses. Around thirty people died in two landslides on the same day in Chembur and Vikhroli during rains this year. We try to prevent landslides, but that is not enough.

UNDP has information on how landslides are dealt with internationally. The one who will share with us. Kakani informed that, we have better arrangements to control the fire in Mumbai and to deal with the building accident. There is no need to improve it much. But in other areas we need to improve. After getting suggestions from UNDP, changes in disaster management will be made to make it of international standards.