In a first of its kind venture, the BMC will launch a new android phone application to aid in citizens’ response to disaster management and control. The app, MCGM Disaster Management, will provide real time information of help available at hand, within a radius of 500 meters from the distressed person. The app will be available for download for android devices from June 14.

Though the application, on clicking on a landmark in the vicinity of the cricis, the app will automatically generate a list of police stations, hospitals, fire brigade departments, and numbers of ward offices within a radius of 500 meters.

The app also has an in-built directory of all important phone numbers of the concerned offices and calls will be connected through the application directly to the concerned department, even if the number is not saved in the phonebook.

Citizens can click in the disaster from a list of 20 disasters shortlisted for the app, including fire accident, terror attack, bomb blast, chemical hazard or chemical spill, and flooding among others.

The app will also allow the user to save emergency personal contacts in a separate list in the app and calls to numbers will be made through the app if the person chooses to notify the contacts of the disaster.

Additionally, the app will provide information on traffic jams, traffic and train diversions during any such crisis along with weather forecast from 88 forecast stations in the city.

The BMC has tied up with IMD for this portion of the app, which will prove forecast data from 26 stations across Mumbai.

I.A. Kundan, additional municipal commissioner in-charge of disaster management in the BMC, said, “The BMC will launch this app as part of its monsoon preparedness measures, but it intends to continue using the app afterward as well.”

The app also features a list of 20 short educational films on disaster management. An civic official associated with the project said, “We have got clearance from the NDRF and the fire brigade for these video clips, to ensure that the procedure is authentic.”

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