All set to prepare disaster management plan to face natural calamities
Members of IBM team interact with the officials in the presence of additional joint collector D. Venkata Reddy during a meeting on alternative communication system for the district during cyclones at the collectorate in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday. (
Visakhapatnam: Global IT giant, IBM Corp, had come forward to prepare a disaster management plan for Vizag as part of their social responsibilty — IBM Smarter Cities Challenge. Vizag is one among those three cities in India and 16 across the world IBM has identified to take up the social responsibility. IBM’s team of experts drawn from various parts of the world from varied fields will visit Vizag within a month and the plan is expected to be ready by September or October.
A team from IBM on Wednesday visited Vizag and interacted with district officials besides representatives of various government departments. They have taken inputs from various departments on pre and post Hudhud preparations and arrangements. Alalhabad and Surat are the other two cities in India that IBM is helping to evolve into a smart city. “We are working at finding smart solutions using technology and world’s best practices to the cities we have identified as part of our social responsibilty. IBM is making huge investments in this regard for the well-being of the society.
Our teams will prepare city-centric projects. Since Vizag is a cyclone prone area and that too the city witnessed Hudhud, we have decided to provide a strong disaster plan using all our expertise in the field. For Allahabad, it would be a solid waste management plan and in Surat we are planning a project on integrating all civic services,” said IBM India, Corporate Citizen-ship head, Mamtha Sharma. IBM also has plans to set up a permanent Integrated Opera-tions Centre or Command Centre, in the city, for emergency management as part of MoU between India and the US to develop Vizag, Allahabad and Ajmer into smart cities.
IBM’s team had conducted a study in Vizag since last November by collecting details, data and also did GIS mapping of the city which will help in responding intelligently in a coordinated manner involving all the related government agencies during any kind of calamity or emergency. Vizag’s Com-mand Centre with video walls will be on the lines of the one set up by IBM at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where the IBM is implementing Smart City project with emergency management.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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