One Stop Risk Management System

The State of Odisha is vulnerable to natural disasters like Cyclone, Flood, Tsunami and Drought. In the recent past, increasing numbers of death tolls due to lightning, heat wave and road accidents have been a major concern. The objective of the State Government is to ensure zero casualty for all disasters. The State Government has taken up various initiatives for strengthening the early warning systems by implementing latest technologies and building partnerships with international agencies to curb the rising number of death tolls due to various disasters. The State Government has enter into a collaboration with the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), Thailand on development and pilot implementation of decision support systems. RIMES Thailand, is 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. In India, it has collaborated with the government of Tamilnadu through establishment of a long-term collaborative programme to enhance Early Warning System for all natural hazards.

The project aims to strengthen the technical capacities of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) through development of various Decision Support System (DSS) tools by utilizing the recent innovations of information technology. These tools shall be developed by completely understanding the underlying day-to-day operational challenges for the identified priority hazards and the best way to overcome these challenges though utilization of technology. 

RIMES shall develop the decision support system for the priority hazards independently and integrated into One-Stop Risk Management System. The system shall have flexibility to accommodate emerging needs for OSDMA. In the future, DSS shall be built with open-source software platforms and public domain data sets with full involvement of all line departments connected with OSDMA and other collaborating agencies. Capacity building of professionals at OSDMA and the line departments on the DSS tools to ensure sustained operations as well as for system upgradation in future.

The DSS tools shall be designed to have multiple layers of user access control and limit the roles and responsibility of the different category of users. The tools are expected to assist in decision making so the target users for the tools are basically OSDMA and the line departments who are directly affected by the disasters.

The project components are intended to be developed over a period of 3 years and then put to operation for the next two years. During this time the tools also will undergo evaluation, improvements and refinements based on feedback from the users at different levels. Finally, all tools and technologies shall be transferred to the OSDMA and relevant departments of Government of Odisha.