How tragedy impacted BMC’s approach to disaster management

A little over 10000 cameras record every nook and cranny of Mumbai Their feed is monitored at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporationrsquos BMC disaster management control room housed in the civic bodyrsquos headquarters at Fort The feed is also monitored in another backup control room at the City Disaster Management Institute in ParelThis concept of ldquoeyes and earsrdquo in all public places has helped the civic body mobilise resources and coordinate with the police fire brigade traffic cops and ambulance service operators among others during emergenciesConstant monitoringIn the aftermath of the 2008 terror attacks top lessons learnt brought changes that enhanced BMCrsquos databases and infrastructure for disaster management operations in the city Tied to the decisions of department of home Maharashtra government the BMC began to receive feeds from 5000 new cameras set up in the city Before this the disaster management department relied on a few cameras from the traffic police Over the years the number of cameras has increased to 10000A senior official told midday ldquoThe disaster management control roomrsquos physical location changed from the basement to the second floor of the headquarters This has added a layer of security regarding how easily the control room can be accessed With the upgrade we installed stateoftheart infrastructure with a massive video wall for monitoring feed from cameras 12 hotlines direct phone lines to all 24 wards municipal hospitals police control rooms DM control rooms of Mumbairsquos neighbouring districts etcrdquoStreamlining SOPsIn 2011 BMCrsquos disaster management unit first introduced the concept of Emergency Support Functions ESF mapping the roles and responsibilities of 108 agencies as leads or support during emergencies There are 14 such ESF identified by the disaster management department including communications firefighting law and order and public safety search and rescue public health and information management The BMC has assigned the first function of communication to itself through its disaster management control room or emergency operations centreA senior official said ldquoTo use a simple example during a fire or a building collapse the BMC is the lead agency and police will perform a supporting function such as crowd control or traffic diversion During a terror attack the Mumbai Police are the lead agency as this is a law and public safety issue The BMCrsquos fire brigade will rush to the spot to douse fires during a terror attack but we are not the ones wearing bulletproof jackets and taking down terrorists Roles have been defined with pre and postemergency SOPs for all agencies with streamlined communication and coordination between 108 agenciesrdquoUse of ham radioIn case of failure of phone lines or satellite phones every administrative ward along with the BMC headquarters has a ham amateur radio set up with certified operators onboarded to respond to emergencies An official said ldquoThe disaster management control room has set up the infrastructure needed to operate ham radios In cases of extreme failure of communication devices these gadgets will be up and running in no timerdquoProposed use of AIAt present the feed from 10000 cameras is monitored manually This means it is impossible to monitor everything all at once at all times The BMC has mooted an upgrade of infrastructure to analyse feed from cameras for extraordinary events ldquoIn case an unusually large crowd is gathering in any locations the AI model can alert the system to an anomaly This can be used for any kind of emergenciesrdquo Of the 32 emergencies and hazards identified nationally such as avalanches tsunamis forest fires lightning incessant rain and earthquakes 27 apply to Mumbai and its neighbouring districts