The Government of Gujarat introduced a holistic and extensive Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Programme designed to address the needs of the affected was people. The reconstruction of houses is probably the most innovative aspect of the Gujarat Reconstruction Programme. It has been a participatory programme with an emphasis on multi-hazard resistant construction and capacity building. The basic approach is owner-driven reconstruction. People reconstruct their houses themselves, with the assistance and facilitation of the Government. Under the programme, total 9,08,751 houses were repaired and over 2,02,343 houses were reconstructed to hazard resistant standards.

After the closure of GEERP, a special package (Package–7) for housing assistance to the earthquake affected tenants of Bhuj & Anjar cities (urban areas) was also released by the State Government. The District Collector–Kutch has begun the process of finalizing the list of beneficiaries who are eligible for getting the assistance under Package–7. District Collector–Kutch has identified 137 eligible beneficiaries under this package and the housing assistance as per the provisions of Package–7 has been released. Identification of other eligible beneficiary is ongoing.

As per the directions given by Government of India, every State has to constitute a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on similar lines of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) constituted by the Government of India. GSDMA, in consultation with Home Department, identified 11 teams from the existing State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and named them as State Disaster Response Force Teams, with each team consisting of 100 personnel. Thereafter, GSDMA also initiated the training of these teams through NDRF 6th Battalion stationed at Gandhinagar. The theoretical and practical trainings have been imparted to 100 personnel of SDRF teams of Vadodara and Nadiad in two training batches at Institute of Fire Safety and Disaster Management Studies (IFSDMS) at Vadodara through NDRF 6th Bn Gandhinagar with their equipments.

In the meantime, the Central Government insisted that SDRF teams should be dedicated specifically for Disaster Management and should not be involved in routine law and order related duties and hence the State Government is considering a proposal to create 3 dedicated SDRF teams to be located at (1) Vav, Taluka : Kamrej, District : Surat (2) Gondal, Taluka : Gondal, District : Rajkot and (3) Madana, Taluka Palanpur, Dist : Banaskantha. The Home Department shall depute the personnel to the dedicated SDRF teams from the existing SRPF teams in a phased manner. The Home Department shall also provide the required infrastructure for the dedicated SDRF teams whereas GSDMA shall provide training to them through NDRF 6th Bn stationed at Vadodara.

The project aims at building the capacity of hospitals for handling fire emergency. It is a decision support system that enables the hospital authorities to take quick decisions and respond effectively during fire situation in hospital. The information about various resources (physical resources including medical inventory, machines and infrastructure, as well as man-power inventory which includes the hospital structure and manpower at each level) is fed in the system. Various Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are developed corresponding to various functions and these define what task is required to be accomplished during an emergency by whom. Moreover, the responders like fire department are provided information about the floor plans, the critical facilities at each plan and the type of casualties associated with each floor. This information helps them to plan their response, evacuation and fire dousing. The system also has features of generating alerts which notifies the hospital authorities, the employees of hospitals, the fire staff, the district administration etc. about the incident of fire and the SOPs required to be activated. This enables the quick flow of action during fire in hospitals.

Currently this project is implemented on pilot basis in Gandhinagar Civil Hospital and Sola Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad. The fire departments of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are also involved in this project.

Development of PPP-Based Mini ERCs for Industrial Clusters

The rapid industrialization including growth of chemical industries in Gujarat has triggered multi-fold use, storage, handling and transportation of hazardous chemicals in the state. The well-equipped ERC (Emergency Response Centre) with trained man-power is one of the important steps for effective and prompt response at onset of any chemical and industrial emergency. At the next stage, Mini ERCs are being set up in vicinity to major industrial clusters of the state, namely Vapi, Hazira, Ankleshwar and Dahej areas which are far to be effectively served by the existing ERCs.

It is decided that the Mini ERCs are to be set up on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis with 40% contribution from GIDC (GoG fund), 40% from GSDMA (GoG fund) and 20% from respective Industrial Associations. The construction of Mini ERC Building at Dahej has been completed and GSDMA share of 40% for the same has also been released while the work in other three Mini ERCs in under progress.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

To ensure prompt and coordinated response in aftermath of a disaster, GSDMA is developing hazard wise standard operating procedures. The SOPs lay down steps wise procedures to be followed by various involved stakeholders. These have been developed in hour-wise format. So far, SOPs for Cyclone and Earthquake have been developed and displayed in State Emergency Operation Centre which is nerve centre for coordination and communication during a disaster scenario.

The Plan also includes measures for disaster prevention and mitigation related to chemical and industrial hazards.