Discuss the role of Information Technology in disaster prevention.

Introduction:

India  is  a  large  country  and  prone  to  a  number  of  natural  hazards. Among all the natural disasters that country   faces,   river   floods   are   the   most   frequent and often devastating. The shortfall in the rainfall causes droughts or drought like stimuli in various parts of the country. The country has faced some    severe    earthquakes    causing    widespread    damage   to   the   life   and   property.   India   has   a   coastline of about 8000 km which is prone to very severe  cyclonic  formations  in  the  Arabian  Sea  and  Bay  of  Bengal.  Another major problem faced by the   country   is   in   the   form   of   landslides   and   avalanches.

Body:

The role of Information Technology in disaster prevention:

GIS AND REMOTE SENSING:

• GIS provides  a  tool  for  effective  and  efficient  storage  and  manipulation  of  remotely  sensed  data  and  other  spatial  and  non-spatial  data  types  for  both  scientific  management  and  policy  oriented     
• This can    be    used    to    facilitate    measurement, mapping, monitoring and modelling of    variety    of    data    types    related    to    natural    phenomenon. 
• The specific  GIS  application  in  the  field  of  Risk  Assessment  are Hazard  Mapping  to  show earthquake, landslides, floods or fire hazards.
• Theses map  could  be  created  for  cities,  districts  or  even  for  the  entire  country  and  tropical  cyclone  Threat     Maps     are     used     by     meteorological     departments  to  improve  the  quality  of  the  tropical  storm  warning  services  and  quickly  communicate  the  risk  to  the  people  likely  to  get  affected  by  the  
• g.: GIS and Remote Sensing can be used for preparing seismic hazards  maps  in  order  to  assess  the  exact  nature of risks.
• GIS can  be  used  in  carrying  out  search  and  rescue  operations    in    a    more    effective    manner    by    identifying   areas   that   are   disasters   prone   and   zoning them accordingly to risk magnitudes

INTERNET

• In the present era of electronic communication, the internet provides a useful platform for disaster mitigation communications.
• Launching of  a  well  defined  web  site  is  a  very  cost-effective  means  of  making an intra-national and international presence felt.
• It provides a new and potentially revolutionary option for    the    rapid,    automatic,    and    global    dissemination of disaster information. A number of individuals  and  groups,  including  several  national  meteorological  services,  are  experimenting  with  the  Internet  for  real-time  dissemination  of  weather  observation,  forecasts,  satellite  and  other   
• In the    most    critical    phase    of    natural    disasters    electronic  communication  have  provided  the  most  effective  and  in  some  instances  perhaps  the  only  means of communication with the outside world.

WARNING AND FORECASTING SYSTEM

• An advance  system  of  forecasting,  monitoring  and  issuing  early  warnings  plays  the  most  significant  role  in  determining  whether  a  natural  hazard  will  assume  disastrous  proportions  or 
• Indian Metrological Department (IMD) provides  cyclone  warnings  from  the  Area Cyclone    Warning    Centres    (ACWCs)    It    has    developed  the  necessary  infrastructure  to  originate  and     disseminate     the     cyclone     warnings     at     appropriate  
• Seismological observations in the country are made through national  network  of  36  seismic  stations  operated  by  the  IMD,  which  is  the  nodal 
• Long term  drought  proofing  programmes  on  the  natural  resources  of  the  district  have  been  greatly  helped  by  the  use  of  satellite  data  obtained  by  National Remote Sensing Agency.
• The drought  assessment  is  based  on  a  comparative  evaluation  of  satellite  observed  green  vegetation  cover  (both  area  and  greenness) of a district in any specific time period by the National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Management    System    (NADAMS).
• Flood forecasts  and  warnings  are  issued  by  the  Central  Water  Commission  (CWC)  ,  Ministry  of  Water  Resources.  These are used for alerting the public and   for   taking   appropriate   measures   by   concerned   administrative   and   state   engineering   agencies     in     the     flood     hazard    

Conclusion:

Advancement    in    Information Technology in the form of Internet, GIS,   Remote   Sensing,   Satellite   communication,   etc.   can   help   a   great   deal   in   planning   and   implementation     of     hazards     reduction.     For     maximum   benefit,   new   technologies   for   public   communication  should  be  made  use  and  natural  disaster  mitigation  messages  should  be  conveyed  through   these   measures.