RIMES To Boost Early Multi-Disaster Warning System In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: To ensure zero casualties and enhance early warning system for effective management of all kinds of disasters in Odisha, the state government on Friday signed a MoU with Bangkok-based Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES).

The MoU was signed between Bishnupada Sethi, commissioner-cum-secretary, Disaster Management, and Managing Director, Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) and AR Subblah for RIMES in the presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the State Secretariat here.

The MoU would enable for development and pilot implementation of decision support systems that make seamless use of weather and climate information at 3 days, 10 days, one month and 3 months into the future, sourced from India Meteorological Department (IMD) for automated risk assessment and advisory generation and dissemination.

These tools shall be built with open-source software platforms and public domain data sets with full involvement of OSDMA and its line departments and collaborating agencies. These integration systems will be capable of crunching terabytes of national, regional and global data sets, in real-time, using state-of-the-art big data analytics to generate operational decision support derivatives to be rendered through user-friendly interfaces to emergency operation centre (EOC) managers to prepare and respond to hazards.

Initially, the agreement will be in force for five years with a cost involvement of about Rs 8 crore. RIMES and OSDMA collaboration will contribute to global efforts targeted to substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems as articulated in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 with strong endorsement of the value of early warning systems as a part of a broader disaster risk reduction strategy and disaster  risk reduction and resilience agenda embedded in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

A UN Registered international and inter-governmental institution, owned and managed by its 48 members and collaborating states for building capacities in the generation and application of user relevant early warning information, the objective of RIMES is to provide early warning services, according to differing needs and demands of its member states for enhanced preparedness and response to and mitigation of natural hazards. One of its main objectives is to enhance warning response capacities at all levels (national to the community) within each national early warning framework.

In India, RIMES has collaborated with the Tamil Nadu government through the establishment of a long-term collaborative programme to enhance early warning systems for all natural hazards.