| Control Room plays an important role in emergency response, rescue and relief as known from the experience of the State Government in responding to the 26th January 2001 earthquake at Kutch. |
| The latest concept in disaster management all over the World is about conversion of Control Rooms in to Emergency Operation Centres. Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) responds immediately during an emergency situation and is equipped with State of the Art communication equipment which enables it to communicate quickly to the affected area and provide immediate support during the Golden Hour of the disaster. Hence the State Government decided to look at the prospect of converting the existing Control Room in to an EOC. |
| Dr. Richard Sharpe, Technical Director, Earthquake Engineering of Beca International Consultants Ltd. and Mr. Charles Kelly, Disaster Management Consultant visited the existing State Control Room and suggested that the State Control Room is in very vulnerable zone (Zone –III for seismic risk) and in the basement of a 10 storey building of Sachivalaya. In case of any untoward incident like bomb blast, terrorist attack, etc. in the sachivalaya; the State Control Room cannot function properly and hence they suggested that the location of the Control Room needs to be shifted and a State Emergency Operation Centre with State of the Art equipment and other facilities has to be constructed at a site separate from the sachivalaya. |
| A decision was hence taken by the State Government to build a new SEOC at Sector-18 in Gandhinagar. An exhaustive list of the facilities ideally required for State EOC was worked out in consultation with the Revenue Department based on the recommendations of the report prepared by Dr. Richard Sharpe and Mr. Charles Kelly. |
| The funding came from the World Bank funded Gujarat Emergency Earthquake Reconstruction Project (GEERP) as well as the State Government funds. The design of the SEOC was prepared considering the guidelines provided by Dr. A. S. Arya, the then National Seismic Advisor to the Government of India looking into the Seismic Zones in Gujarat. |
| A plot size of 8,000 Sq.Mtrs. was provided by the State Government for construction of State EOC in Sector – 18, Gandhinagar. The total area for the construction work comes to 2,231 Sq.Mtrs. |
| The construction work for SEOC started in December 2007 and completed in February 2010. Hence, State Control Room manned by the Revenue Department which was earlier situated at Sachivalaya has shifted to newly constructed SEOC and has been functioning from SEOC. |
| A list of facilities / utilities provided in the State EOC at Gandhinagar is as shown below: |
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1. |
Control Room |
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2. |
Reception Room |
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3. |
Waiting Room |
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4. |
Display Room |
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5. |
Media Room (with toilets) |
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6. |
Room for Hon’ble Ministers and officers (with toilets) |
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7. |
Chamber for Relief Commissioner |
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8. |
Chamber for Director of Relief |
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9. |
VIP Conference Room (with provision for video-conferencing facility) |
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10. |
Facility Management Room (with toilets) |
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11. |
State Alert & Warning Room |
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12. |
Conference Room |
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13. |
Staff sitting Room |
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14. |
Department Room – 5 |
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15. |
UPS Room |
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16. |
Rest Room (with toilets) - 2 |
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17. |
Ladies and Gents Toilet Rooms - General |
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18. |
Pantry Room |
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19. |
Electric Room |
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| Apart from the above mentioned facilities, additional facilities which have been provided in the compound of State EOC are as shown below: |
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1. |
Garden |
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2. |
Fire Fighting System |
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3. |
Parking |
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4. |
Generator Rom – 160 KVA |
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5. |
Security Cabin and main gates |
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6. |
Water Harvesting System |
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7. |
Sump Room |
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8. |
Electric and Transformed Room – 315 KVA |
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| Each room has been provided with air conditioning system and CCTV cameras. The main building also consists of announcing system, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and sensors. |
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| Information Communications Technology System (ICTS) Network For Emergency Response |
| The State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) has been designed to be the central operations center for coordination of all District and Taluka Emergency Operation Centers. |
| It will be the central hub for all communication and emergency management for the state of Gujarat. The SEOC is envisaged to have state of art communication facilities for communicating with all stakeholders during the time of an emergency or a disaster. |
| Natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, cyclones etc. cause damage and result in disruption of Information and Communications infrastructure, which is necessary for effective and efficient disaster management activities. |
| Hence, GSDMA has proposed to establish Information and Communications Technology System for effective disaster response. |
| The robust network would extend to State, District, Taluka and the local incidence point with a well defined control and coordination structure supported with adequate and appropriate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resources tools. This network would be designed for integrating State Emergency Operation center (SEOC) at Gandhinagar with 33 District Emergency Operation centers (DEOCs), 5 Emergency Response Centers (ERCs) and 248 Taluka Emergency Operation centers (TEOCs). |
| Administration (State Emergency Management Authority / agency) need a secure centralized location, with adequate communications for planning, decision support and coordination during a disaster or emergency. Hence the proposed Gujarat State Disaster Response - Information and Communications Technology System (GSDR-ICTS) is expected to be of robust design to survive the disaster situations. |
| A technical committee under the chairmanship of CEO - GSDMA has been constituted to oversee the process of finalizing the agency as per the procurement guidelines of the State Government. |
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| State Emergency Operation Center |
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Address - Sector 18, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382021 Contact No. - 079-23251900
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