A meeting to review the status of preparedness for various Disasters with special reference to earthquake risk management in Delhi / NCT Delhi was held at NDMA under the Chairmanship of Sh. M.Shashidhar Reddy, Hon’ble VC, NDMA. Participants from Govt. of NCT Delhi were led by Mr. P. K. Tripathi, Chief Secretary, Govt of NCT Delhi and Mr. Dharmendra, Divisional Commissioner and Member Secretary of Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

Actions taken so far by Govt. of Delhi for Disaster Management:

+           Constitution of Delhi Disaster Management Authority at State level and District Disaster Management Authorities at District level.

+           State and District Disaster Management Plans drafted, awaiting approval.

+           Round the Clock Emergency Operation Centres established in all 9 Districts.

+           Stocking of Heavy equipments with MCD for emergency response

+           Modernized Fire & Emergency Service System in place to meet any eventuality.

+           Availability of Ambulance services for medical emergency in govt. and private sector

+           Suitable amendments in building bylaws/regulations and town planning acts proposed for construction of disaster resistant buildings, awaiting approval

+           Pilot retrofitting of 2 lifeline buildings of Delhi and remaining 3 are under process. Additional retrofitting initiatives for one hospital and one school in each of 9 districts being planned.

+           Reviving of retrofitting circle constituted earlier under Delhi Earthquake Safety Initiatives for carrying out retrofitting works of public building in Delhi

+           Hazard Safety Cell set up in Delhi Development Authority

While appreciating the efforts taken by Delhi Govt., NDMA informed its following initiatives for earthquake risk preparedness covering Delhi region.

+           National Earthquake Risk Mitigation Project,

+           Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis mapping and Geo-technical investigation of Indian landmass

+           Development of Building Typology Template for Vulnerability Assessment and Risk Analysis of the residential buildings in India for Earthquake

+           GIS based National Disaster Management Information System (NDMIS)

Besides the  above  VC, NDMA suggested following action points for strengthening earthquake risk preparedness in Delhi.

• It is necessary to have retrofitting of lifeline buildings in a comprehensive manner.
• Delhi has 9 districts with huge density of population. Besides, there are around 65 lakh vehicles with a large size of transportation networks in the city. According to Census 2011, Northeast District accounts country’s highest population density. Therefore, there is a need to look at highly dense areas with old vulnerable buildings. It was suggested to conceive a Retrofitting Promotion System (RPS) for such private buildings.
• To look into structural evaluation and seismic strengthening of other nationally important buildings located in Delhi.
• Seismic microzonation of Delhi  as already taken up by Earthquake Risk Evaluation Centre, IMD should be completed at the earliest.
• Identification of a  number of   trainees (engineers, architects and masons) required for their capacity in building in earthquake resistant construction techniques, so that due responsibility of construction fraternity for earthquake risk management could be ensured. 
• For medical preparedness and mass casualty management, effective measures need to be taken for capacity building in advanced trauma life support system, besides having well structured action plan for disaster management involving all the stakeholders working in health sector in NCT Delhi.
• Delhi Govt. could set up State Disaster Response Force out of the existing Armed Reserves as being done in other states. Besides, resource inventory for disaster response, as uploaded on IDRN website by District Administrations of Delhi, need to be regularly updated. 
• To increase the pace of awareness generation and mass sensitization for earthquake and other disaster preparedness. 

The meeting was attended by Members, Senior Officers of NDMA along with Senior Officers of various departments of Govt. of NCT Delhi  such as Delhi Administration, DDMA, Fire Services, PWD, DDA etc.

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RS/KKA