INTERNSHIP REPORT

Role of State Emergency Operation Centre in Disaster Management in special

reference to AP State

DECEMBER 10, 2022

 DECLARATION

I, NELLIPUDI SAI KRISHNA, a student of Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster

Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, hereby declare that this Internship report made is
the outcome of my own study, observations, and understanding of 21 days Internship
program executed in APSDMA – Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority,
Government of Andhra Pradesh, Kunchanpally, Andhra Pradesh, under the guidance of Dr.
M M Ali, Scientist, and Meteorologist Expert – SEOC APSDMA, Dr. Purna Chand C
Oceanologist & Meteorologist, SEOC APSDMA.

I solemnly declare that this internship reports my original work. I further declare that I
have strictly observed reporting ethics and duly discharged copy-right obligation and
properly referred all outsourcing of materials used in this report and nothing is confidential in
this report in respect of the Organisation of my internship. I take responsibility for all legal
and ethical requirements regarding this report.

Nellipudi Sai Krishna

10th December 2022

 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Internship Report Submitted by Nellipudi Sai Krishna (Reg
No. M2022DM021), a student of TISS, for his completion of the internship program at Andhra
Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA), Government of Andhra Pradesh,
under my guidance from the date 25th November 2022 to 15th December 2022. He is found to be
sincere and hardworking, and diligent. We wish him all the best for future endeavour.

Date: Dr. Purna Chand C

Project Manager – ARD
SEOC – APSDMA
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am highly indebted to Dr. M M Ali, Scientist and Meteorologist Expert at SEOC

APSDMA, and Dr. Purna Chand C, Project Manager-DM, at SEOC APSDMA, for their
extremely valuable guidance and assistance in my journey to complete this internship. I thank
them for the confidence they have shown in me; without their guidance, support, and motivation,
this endeavour would not have been so easy. Thank you. Keep Inspiring many more lives.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Mr. Baswanth Reddy, Project Manager-DM
and all SEOC staff, who were extremely supportive and helpful during my internship.

I would like to extend special thanks to Mr. Harish (Ph.D. Scholar – TISS Mumbai) and
Mr. Harsh Aditya (Operations Officer – Atlas telecom) for their extended support and for guiding
me through this journey.

I would like to extend my Special Sincere thanks to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar IAS, MD

APSDMA and Mr. Nagaraju (ED – APSDMA) for accepting my request for internship in your
reputed and pioneer in the field of Disaster Management.

I would like to sincerely thank Ms. Tanuja – CBO for providing me the approvals at
APSDMA Organisation.

I would like to extend special thanks to Prof. Jacquleen Joseph – Dean JTSDS – TISS
Mumbai, Prof. Nirmalya Choudhury, ChairPerson CDM – JTSDS – TISS Mumbai for their
willingness to help me and for approving my request of Internship. -

Thank You!
Nellipudi Sai Krishna
JAMSETJI TATA SCHOOL OF
DISASTER STUDIES
TATA INSTITUE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Table of Contents
APSDMA ................................................................................................................................................ 1
SEOC - STATE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTRE .................................................................. 2
INTRODUCTION: ............................................................................................................................. 2
STRUCTURE ..................................................................................................................................... 3
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES: ....................................................................................................... 4
TECHNICAL INCHARGE: ............................................................................................................. 4
PROJECT MANAGERS: ................................................................................................................. 4
RSI – RESERVE POLICE SUB-INSPECTORS & SFO –STATION FIRE OFFICER .................... 5
DEO - DATA ENTRY OPERATORS ............................................................................................... 5
SDRF-STATE DISASTER RESPONSE FORCE ............................................................................. 5
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER ................................................................................................... 6
DATA SOURCES: ............................................................................................................................. 7
ACTIVITIES: ..................................................................................................................................... 8
MONITORING & RECORDING: ................................................................................................... 8
ACCIDENTS ................................................................................................................................... 8
FORECASTING, MONITORING/OBSERVATIONS & RECORDING ......................................... 10
LIGHTENING ............................................................................................................................... 10
CYCLONES ................................................................................................................................... 12
HEAT WAVE ................................................................................................................................. 16
FLOODS ....................................................................................................................................... 20
DROUGHT ................................................................................................................................... 24
EARTHQUAKE ............................................................................................................................. 27
IEC – INFORMATION, EDUCATION, AND COMMUNICATION ............................................ 31
Web-EOC.......................................................................................................................................... 34
CASE DETAILS OF HOW APSDMA’s SEOC HANDLED CYCLONE MANDOUS ................. 36
December 2nd - 3rd 2022 – Identification of Favourable Conditions ............................................. 36
December 4th 2022 – Information on Likely Conversion to Cyclonic Strom ................................ 36
December 5th- 6th 2022 – Likely to be Affected Districts were announced ................................... 37
December 7th – 8th 2022 – Early Warning Dissemination via Message & Deep Depression to
Cyclonic Strom - MANDOUS ....................................................................................................... 39
December 9th 2022 – Confirmation of Cyclone Mandous to Severe Cyclone and weaken back to
Cyclone just before hitting the Land. ............................................................................................ 41
December 10th 2022 - Deceleration of Deep Depression to Depression and from Depression to
Well Marked Low Pressure ........................................................................................................... 43
BIBILOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................... 46
 APSDMA
Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) is the top/apex
body for Disaster Management activities in Andhra Pradesh State, established on 14th
November 2007 under Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority Rules 2007,
which was formed under the Disaster Management Act of 2005 under sub-section l of section
3. Operations of APSDMA were monitored and controlled by Managing Director at the
Organisational level from APSDMA Kunchanapalli, Tadepalli Mandal – Andhra Pradesh.
APSDMA is headed by AP State’s Chief Minister, and the structure of APSDMA,
SEC etc are according to the Disaster Management Act 2005(National Disaster Management
Plan (NDMP), n.d.).(APSDMA - (Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority), n.d.)

Figure 1 Organisational chart of APSDMA -taken from Website

• SEOC – STATE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTRE

• SA – SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
• CDO – COMMUNICATION DOCUMENTATION OFFICER
• CBO – CAPACITY BUILDING OFFICER
• GIS – GEO-INFORMATICS SYSTEM
• SFO – STATION FIRE OFFICER
• RSI – RESERVE POLICE SUB INSPECTOR
• PM – PROJECT MANAGERS
• DEO – DATA ENTRY OPERATORS

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 SEOC - STATE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTRE

INTRODUCTION:
Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) is a central command and control facility
responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency
management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level during an emergency, and
ensuring the continuity of operation of a company, political subdivision or other organization.
It is responsible for strategic direction and operational decisions and does not normally
directly control field assets, instead leaving tactical decisions to lower commands. The
common functions of EOCs are to collect, gather and analyze data; make decisions that
protect life and property, maintain continuity of the organization, within the scope of
applicable laws; and disseminate those decisions to all concerned agencies and individuals.
State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) (Figure 2) is one such of the key bodies
performs the above operations at APSDMA for complete AP State. Operations like Forecast,
issue Early Warning Decimation System, and monitor various extreme events like Cyclones,
Floods, Lightning, Drought, Heat Waves, Earthquakes, and other man-made events like Fire
& Chemical accidents. Of these events, only a few can be predicted well in advance, like
Cyclones, Floods, Lightning, Heat Wave, etc., so Early Warning Systems can be given well
in advance, and a few events like Earth Quake, Landslides, Fire, chemical accidents are hard
to predict with accuracy, so Early Warning System for these events are hardly seen.
State Emergency Operations Centre is the immediate responder in emergency
situations, as stated above. The Centre is equipped with the latest technology, especially
advanced monitoring software linkages, and monitors the state at both macro and micro
levels. With this, precise information about the affected sites and the response, and relief
activities will be organized accordingly. Hotline and communication are other key aspects
that were implemented in a very dynamic way; it can be connected to the Secretariate, SDRF,
and other officials, including authorities from all districts and mandals of the state, so at any
emergency, the dynamic decisions are made, and the commands are sent to the respective
places in a swift way which can emphasis in reducing the impact of the event. Since it is very
much accessible to NH16 and the railways, Authorities and officials from State Government
can utilize this as Incident Response System in emergencies.

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 Figure 2 STATE EMERGENCY OPERATION CENTRE – Courtesy APSDMA Tweet

SEOC was formed under the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Plan to
serve as a nerve centre during emergencies. And under SEOC institutional arrangement,
every district HQ will be equipped with a DEOC and every Mandal with a MEOC, which
will function for their nodal regions. (Under Chapter 7.2 of AP State DMP Volume 1).
The strategic location of this is such a way that it is located in Seismic Zone 3 and less
affected by other major events like floods., Since it is the least affected at these events, the
functioning of the team will not be disturbed.

STRUCTURE
As said that SEOC is the Nerve Cell of the APSDMA, it is very important and crucial
that its functioning of it has to be in coordination with many departments. So experts &
trained staff are needed in the respective departments. As mentioned in Figure 1 and Figure 3
of the Organisational Structure of APSDMA, State Emergency Operation Centre was
comprised with Experts in the field of Metrological department – Project Managers and
Technical Incharge of SEOC were available to monitor and analyze the weather-related data.,
Staff from SDRF – Reserve Police Force, Personals from AP Police, Fire Department on
Deputation, Public Relations Officer, System Administrator, ERSS Staff, DEO, and other
operators are the members in APSDMA’s SEOC.

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 TECHNICAL PROJECT
TECHNICAL
INCHARGE - 1 MANAGERS - 3

RSI -3

RELEIF & RESCUE SFO - 3

SEOC SDRF - 7

ADMINSTRATION DEO - 7

PUBLIC
PRO - 1
RELATIONS

ERSS - 7

Figure 3 SEOC Structure

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

TECHNICAL INCHARGE:
Technical Head of SEOC and expert in the field of Meteorology. Responsible for
Analysing the IMD’s GFS and ECMWF’s weather data of the state during critical or crucial
hours. Scrutiny and reviewing of the weather reports prepared by the Project Managers before
publishing or circulating them to State officials or public domains. Approving the Action
Plans for Hazards, Scrutinising Disaster Management Plans for Districts, Departments and
New Projects
Currently, Dr. Meer Mohammed Ali is the Technical Incharge of SEOC. He is a
renowned Scientist and Expert in the field of Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences. He served in
various reputed Organisations like ISRO, IITM Pune, Florida State University, and other
universities.

PROJECT MANAGERS:
Responsible for the dedicated projects, i.e., ARD – Atmospheric Research Division,
ERSS – Emergency Response Support System, APDRC – Andhra Pradesh Disaster Research
Centre, DM - Disaster Management. The role of ARD PM is to interpret and analyze the data

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which was received from IMD, preparing the weather forecast with the help of Numerical
Weather Predictions. And these forecasts will be sent to other departments. Also, they Co-
ordinate and guide various departments and districts for preparation of Disaster Management
Plans for their respective divisions. Co-ordinating with various departments after a disaster
and preparing Damage Report of the disaster. Preparing Action Plans against the HazardsThe
current ARD PM is Dr. Purna Chand C, an expert in field of Meteorology and Oceanography.
Mr. Baswanth Kumar – Research Scientist is heading as PM for Disaster Management
division.

RSI – RESERVE POLICE SUB-INSPECTORS & SFO –STATION FIRE

OFFICER
They are deputed to SEOC by Reserve Police, AP Police, AP State Disaster
Response, and Fire Services Department. Since the inception of SEOC. They will
continuously monitor accidents and other crime-related information at the state level via news
channels. Once any incident is registered or scrolled via news reports, they will immediately
speak to the concerned Police Constable / Sub-Inspector of Police of that area and writes a
preliminary information report that comprises the data of the incident and PC details and
hand it over to DEOs.
During any calamities, say Cyclones, Lightning, floods, etc., depending on the
severity, they will send alerts to concerned areas in the form of BSNL Push Notifications,
Cell Broadcasting SMS.
A total of 3 Staff from each were deputed into departments, so at every shift, One
RSI, and one SFO will be available in the Centre.

DEO - DATA ENTRY OPERATORS

They are responsible for registering and enrolling all accident and disaster-related
data. That includes road accidents, fire accidents, chemical/industrial industries, food
incidents, Drowning incidents, Electrocutions, Lightning, Cyclones, Floods, etc., incidents
with the number of victims, area, fatalities, etc. This data will be entered in respective data
spaces, cloud, and hard copy documents and will be reported to the MD, ED, and other
official groups based on the severity of the incident on an incident/daily basis. Apart from
they will make follow-ups with respective Police Stations for the incident information until
the case, or the incident is closed. Currently, 7 DEOs are working who works in shifts with a
minimum of 2 in each shift (a,b,c) while the other will be functioning in the General shift.

SDRF-STATE DISASTER RESPONSE FORCE

As said, SEOC is the nerve cell of APSDMA, need for members from SDRF is
essential so that at any point of emergency like drowning, chemical/industrial accidents,
evacuations during floods, cyclones etc., they make immediate communications to relevant
teams through Command office of NDRF or SDRF. With this provision, teams will be
mobilized within the golden hours for rescue operations. SDRF staff deputed here will

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continuously monitor the activities and will be in contact with Rescue teams and government
agencies too for these purposes.
Whenever any requestion for aid is received at the center from District Collector,
immediately a letter to NDRF/SDRF will be sent for the deployment of teams. And the
decision of making a call, i.e, to SDRF or NDRF, will depend upon the location, type, and the
total number of victims of the incident. Follow-up activities will be made with the team
commander on a day-day or hourly basis based on the severity of the emergency.
At any point, 1 person from SDRF will be available at the Centre, and a total of 3 -4
members of staff will be deputed from SDRF.

PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER

Mass communication plays a very crucial role during natural calamities like Cyclones,
Earthquakes, lightning, floods, flash floods, etc.. Upon inputs from the technical teams and
based on the severity, Public Relations Officer will be issuing public notices and information
via electronic media. They are the point of contact between the center and the media for
passing the information. Currently, the department has one PRO for the subject roles.

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DATA SOURCES:
Department gets inputs or information from various sources or agencies like Indian
Metrological Department (IMD), Central Water Commission (CWC), Indian National Centre
for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), National Centre for Seismology (NCS), National
Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Andhra Pradesh State Development Planning
Society (APSDPS), Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), Andhra Pradesh Space
Application Centre (APSAC), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
(ECMWF).
For the different events, different sources are used by the Department. As for weather
forecasting on a day-to-day basis, five-day predictions, Now-Cast, Department uses the Data
from IMD, and ECMWF and Weather Observations data from APSDPS. This data includes
the rains, cyclones, max-min temperatures of the day, heat waves, humidity, cold wave,
thundering, and lightning. Taking these data as input from IMD, Department will make the
necessary analysis and marks the affected areas before the event strikes, and issues the
warnings accordingly.
CWC performs various operations like schemes for control, conservation, and
utilization of water resources that include Navigation, irrigation, Drinking Water Supply, and
Flood Control. Inputs like Flood Forecast, Hydrological data, Reservoir Level updates, Dam
Health, etc. help in predicting floods, and flash floods, upon which Department takes
necessary actions like EWS and alerting concern teams for evacuation processes.
Inputs from INCOIS like Strom Surges, High Waves, tsunamis, and short-term Ocean
State Forecasts and other information like wind, mixed layer depth, shoreline change, and
land use pattern. This information helps in sending alerts to the various stack holders and also
alerts coastal populations and fishermen communities via media and social media.
Inputs from IMD, NCS, and NGRI include Seismic activities (Earthquakes,
Landslides) with their magnitude and epicenter, helping the department deploy various
agencies and monitor the situation.
For accidents and other mishaps department uses Media Inputs (News Channels).
Event Central Agency for EWS
Cyclone IMD
Floods CWC
Heat Wave IMD
Earthquake NCS & IMD
Tsunami INCOIS
Drought Ministry of Agriculture -
DES
Epidemics Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare
Lightning APSDMA – EarthNetwork
& IMD
Landslide NGRI & GSI
Table 1 Central Agencies Designated for Natural Hazard-Specific EWS - Courtesy NDMA

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 ACTIVITIES:

SEOC is equipped with advanced systems which has potential of performing various
activities like analysing, predictions, early warning disseminations system,

MONITORING & RECORDING:

ACCIDENTS
As mentioned earlier, Not all events can be predicted earlier, such as Accidents,
drowning, etc.. For these events, Organisation will Monitor and maintains a record of that
incident in their database. These accidents include Road, Rail, Fire Accidents, Electrocution,
Drowning, Industrial Accidents, Food related etc. SEOC is the body/department that
maintains this data and RSI/FSO will give the incident information to DEO – Data Entry
Operators, who is responsible for tracking, monitoring & recording the data at the State level.
RSI/SFO are the authorized members/staff of SEOC to write a Preliminary
Information Report (figure 4) on the accident or the incident. This report will be in a written
document with the basic information that was received through News Channels.

Figure 4 SEOC - APSDMA PRELIMINARY INFORMATION REPORT

Taking these inputs, DEOs will enroll the data in their workspace (Figure 5), and the
work of follow-up with the respective PS or the PC will begin until the case is closed. This
data includes the type of incident with its information, particulars of the injured, and fatalities
along with the incident.
For the Cases of drowning, they follow the same procedure of enrolling and
maintaining the data; however, for the purpose of rescue, they follow a few protocols and
procedures. For these cases, if the local officials couldn’t recover or rescue with their
capacities, they approach APSDMA from MROs through District Collectors. Considering the
request from MRO, District Collector/Magistrate sends an official request to APSDMA for
the expert’s support i.e., NDRF or SDRF teams. Considering the request from DM,
APSDMA writes to SDRF or NDRF for the Deployment of teams for Rescue Operations.

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 Figure 5 Workspace reports

DEO’s Reports will be maintained in 3 forms, one will be the hard copy document
which was given by Duty RSI/FSO, the second will be their data saved in their Workspace in
the form of Excel sheets, and finally, the data is registered in the website & stored in the
cloud. And reports will be maintained with respect to the annual business calendar i.e., April
to March.

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 FORECASTING, MONITORING/OBSERVATIONS & RECORDING
LIGHTENING
Lightening is one other major hazard that can create a loss of lives. This is a natural
hazard which is formed due to difference in the charge density. These charge carriers are
Clouds and ground. Intra-Cloud (In-Cloud), Inter-Cloud (Cloud to Cloud), Cloud to ground,
Cloud to Air are different types of Lightning.
Department uses various technologies and sources from various Stakeholders like
Earth Network, IMD, etc., for predicting the event and sending early warnings and alerts.
SEOC utilizes the IMD’s DWR – Indian Meteorology Department’s Doppler Weather Radars
data. IMD DWR generates 3 types of base data – Reflectivity (Figure 6), Radial Velocity,
Spectrum width.(Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources,
River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, GoI |, n.d.; Home | India Meteorological Department,
n.d.)

Figure 6 Mosaic of Radar

Reflectivity Report - IMD Courtesy

Figure 8 Hourly Bulletins (Sample Data) – IMD Radar Figure 7 Doppler Weather Report by IMD
Data of 2nd December 2022.

Also, department uses data from Earth Network Sensors, which comes in the form of
strides on the map basing on the number of strides, the severity is identified and Department
follows different strategies for sending these Alerts. The weather phenomena like
thunderstorms, hailstorms etc. are short lived but are highly disastrous due to the associated
weather elements like squalls and lightning. Hence continuous monitoring and issue of
warning for these severe weather events are necessary. Since they develop and dissipate
within a short period, they can be better covered by nowcasts than short range forecasts. To
support nowcast services, the Nowcast Division of NWFC issues nowcast guidance bulletin
on daily basis which gives the details of the expected severe weather phenomena and its
intensity along with the area of occurrence, so that the concerned agencies can keep
continuous watch for the development of those severe weather and issue nowcasts
accordingly. These Now-Cast are valid from 40 mins to 3 hours prior (Figure 7) to the event
based on the above data reference. These nowcasts are uploaded in the nowcast page of the
IMD, and also Department disseminates warnings through various sources based on the

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severity/intensity of the event. If the Severity is between Moderate to High, then they follow
SMS Alerts and High to Very High communication through Media – News Channels.
However, SMS alerts are again in two forms one is to local government officials like MRO,
and the other is through BSNL Push Notifications and Cell Broadcasting Messages which
generally send the data according to the cell phone tower’s radius; currently, Cell
Broadcasting Message technology is in commissioning phase.
During the event, Department closely monitors the situation with local government
staff and provides necessary help. After the event, the department will get clear information
from the local government, i.e., MRO over the affected areas, total injured and fatalities, if
any., depending upon which Department requests Pro-forma (Figure 11) from MRO, which
includes the data related to fatality particulars, Lat-Long, etc. Which department will be
maintaining the data (figure 12) for other formalities and compensation/ex-gretia etc.

Figure 9 Proforma Format Figure 10 Database of DEO

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CYCLONES
Cyclone are typical Atmospheric process, i.e; rapid inward air circulation around a
low-pressure area formed due to excess heat at that zone. Cyclones are usually accompanied
by violent storms and bad weather. The air circulates in an anticlockwise direction in the
Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere. There are two types of
cyclones: Tropical cyclones (develops in between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. They
are large-scale weather systems developing over tropical or subtropical waters, where they
get organized into surface wind circulation); and Extra Tropical cyclones (also called
Temperate cyclones originated in Polar regions).

Tropical Cyclones are one of the most devastating natural calamities in the world.
Tropical cyclones originate and intensify over warm tropical oceans. Cyclones are classified
into 8 types in Indian Context basing on the wind speed and intensity which are mentioned in
table no. 2. The conditions favourable for the formation and intensification of tropical storms
are:

• Large sea surface with a temperature higher than 27° C.

• Presence of the Coriolis force.
• Small variations in the vertical wind speed.
• A pre-existing weak low-pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation.
• Upper divergence above the sea level system.

The development of a cyclone is generally observed in 3 phases/stages

1. Formation & Initial Development Stage – Evaporation of Seawater, Cloud Formation,

2. Mature Stage
3. Modification & Decay
Tropical Cyclones are mostly observed along the Indian Subcontinent, especially
along the Indian coastal states of AP, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal along the East
coast and Gujarat along the West coast are comparable most vulnerable to Cyclone disasters.
These Cyclones are very destructive due to high wind velocity and torrential rain that

Table 2 Classification of Tropical Cyclones - WMO

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accompanies it.
As said these are atmospheric processes, these are very much predictable with various
technologies. Department issues forecasts twice a day i.e.; one main weather bulletin around
mid-day and an update in the night. All these bulletins are observed from 08:30 hrs of Day 1
to 8:30 hrs of Day 2 and these forecasts mentioned in figure 13 are valid for 120 hrs i.e., 5
days from the day of observation and those timings of validity will be too mentioned in the
forecast. Warnings for severe weather expected are also included in the bulletins as per the
ongoing season. For example, warning for fog/cold wave etc are included during the winter
season whereas warning for heatwaves is included during the summer/pre monsoon season as
per the criteria followed. Upon the reports from IMD (Figure no. 15,16), Department
prepares the map of areas which are going to effect at district and mandal scale and issues
warnings accordingly. Once any depression or low depression or above are identified, then
after hourly monitoring activies are made by Department through various sources.
Depending upon the type of the cyclone as mentioned in the table no. 2 i.e; deep
depression, cyclonic strom, severe cyclonic strom, Super Cyclonic Strom department issues
warning accordingly and the evacuation, relief activities were planned and excuted.

72 hrs 48 hrs 24 hrs 12 hrs 0 Hr 0-24 hrs 24-48 hrs

Updates on
IMD
Pre- Weather
Post- forecast.
Cyclone Cyclone Cyclone Disaster
Landfall Evacuation
Surveillanc Alert Warning Declaration
Outlook & Relief
e
Monitoring.
I Flood
Warnings if
any.
Figure 11 Timeline of Warnings/ Alerts issued For Cyclone by APSDMA - Courtesy APSDMA SEOC CYCLONE ACTION PLAN

Before the event hits according to the time frame mentioned above (Figure 13),
department will provide information for alerting, making the teams ready for deployment,
evacuations etc will be sent for the respective stockholders through the communication
medium in protocols. Basing on the severity, department issues warnings or alerts in above
mentioned time frames with different activities or decisions made at different time frames. As
heading towards the event, department intensifies or increase its activities of alerting the
public, government officials.

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 Figure 12 Cyclone & Strom surge Mapping of AP State - Courtesy GIS APSDMA

Figure 13 IMD Forecast of Cyclone Mandous -Cone of Uncertinity Figure 14 IMD Forecast of Cyclone Mandous – Quadrant
Wind Distribution Map

Issuing warning in various platforms (Figure 17) that includes electronic, social media
and push messages etc. is one of its key parts for EWDS. Regular follow-ups with various
affected areas and co-ordinations with SDRF, NDRF teams for evacuation & relief etc.

Post Disaster, department collects various reports for damage assessment (Figure. 18)
from effected mandals and districts, upon which department prepares reports with all
necessary documents for providing necessary funds to subjective districts.

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 Figure 16 Post Disaster – Cyclone Jawad Report
Figure 15 Early Warnings via Twitter Platform

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HEAT WAVE
Heat Wave is one more natural disaster comes under meteorological event formed due
to Extreme Temperatures. Transportation / Prevalence of hot dry air over a region, Absence
of moisture in the upper atmosphere, Cloudless sky: maximum insolation over the area, large
amplitude anti-cyclonic flow over the area can also lead to heat wave. Heat waves generally
develop over Northwest India and spread gradually eastwards & southwards but not
westwards It is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum
temperature. Since temperature varies from according to altitudes and the latitudes, there is
no standard thumb figures for the declaration of Heat wave. So Agencies follow their own
standards according the place and the climatic-weather conditions over that area. In general,
in India, it that occurs during the summer season typically occur between March and June,
and in some rare cases even extend till July. (Home | India Meteorological Department, n.d.)
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) the Nodal agency for the declaration, has
given the following criteria for Heat Waves:

• Heat Wave need not be considered till maximum temperature of a station reaches at
least 40°C for Plains and at least 30°C for Hilly regions

• When normal maximum temperature of a station is less than or equal to 40°C Heat
Wave Departure from normal is 5°C to 6°C Severe Heat Wave Departure from
normal is 7°C or more

• When the normal maximum temperature of a station is more than 40°C Heat Wave
Departure from normal is 4°C to 5°C Severe Heat Wave Departure from normal is
6°C or more

• When actual maximum temperature remains 45°C or more irrespective of normal

maximum temperature, heat waves should be declared. Higher daily peak
temperatures and longer, more intense heat waves are becomingly increasingly
frequent globally due to climate change. India too is feeling the impact of climate
change in terms of increased instances of heat waves which are more intense in nature
with each passing year, and have a devastating impact on human health thereby
increasing the number of heat wave casualties.
Higher daily peak temperatures and longer, more intense heat waves are becomingly
increasingly frequent globally due to climate change. AP State too is feeling the impact of
climate change in terms of increased instances of heat waves which are more intense in
nature with each passing year, and have a devastating impact on human. So APSDMA Has
developed few plans and strategies as mentioned in table 3 below, for reducing the causalities
caused due to Heat Waves in AP, for this SEOC has implemented separated action plans that
include Forecasting, alerting different agencies like the health care system, NGOs, and
Government agencies for the implementation of various measures, Observing the data, and
maintaining the track. For Warnings and alerts, they follow the mentioned strategy here
below:

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Table 3 Warning/Alert protocols or formats Department issues - Courtesy SEOC Heat Wave Action Plan 2021

Similar to the cyclones, Department gets 72 hours of forecast data As mentioned in

below figure from IMD for issuing warnings to the state and other stack holders for the
various measures as mentioned above. The department not only issues forecasts but also
releases bulletins on the observed data across the state.

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 Department issues possibility of Heat Waves to be affected at Mandal level for 48 hrs
from the IMD reports and makes GIS maps according to them. Department utilizes IMD
NWP GFS model data for sending advisories. These warnings, valid for the next two days,
are issued around 16:00 hours daily and are provided to all concerned authorities for taking
suitable action at their end. The processes carried out daily at State Emergency Operation
Centre (SEOC) on heat wave forecast and the sample forecast given to the concerned
departments is shown below in figure 19. Three target groups were suggested to receive
different, but coherent messages.

Figure 17 Heat Wave Bulletin - Courtesy SEOC APSDMA Heat Wave Action Plan 2021

Department operators continuously monitor the temperature observations recorded at

different Automatic Weather Stations which are available with APSDPS. Data collection will
be between 11:00 Hours and 16:00 Hours. Considering the observations, at any case if
temperature exceeds normal (> 41°C) recorded from AWS stations then SEOC operators will
contact concerned Mandal MROs to get the ground reality. ARD team at SEOC will do data
validation of forecasted data with AWS observational data for further improvement of
forecast. SEOC data gathering team take feedback from concerned state level officials
regarding heat wave conditions. Department also sends various alerts in different forms i.e;
electronic media, push messages, SMS, mails, via social media format of the same has been
mentioned in Figure 20.

Figure 18 Heat Wave Alert format - Courtesy Heat Wave Plan SEOC APSDMA

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 Figure 19 Heat Wave prone mandals map of AP – Courtesy GIS APSDMA

Depending upon the past years weather observations, Department with GIS team has
developed Heat wave Hazard – Vulnerability Map of State Andhra Pradesh at mandal levels
which was enclosed above figure 21. This helps government agencies to focus their activities
on those areas while taking other precautionary measures at macro levels and micro levels
too.

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FLOODS

It is another big Natural Disaster comes under Hydrological disaster that is driven by
Geo-Physical – Metrological factors. This event creates a devasting loss in terms of lives and
also economically. Since most of the rivers in South India, of course in North India are
primarily dependent on the rains. Heavy rainfall in the catchment area and soil attaining its
saturation level, sometimes due to upstream discharge and dam failure are some of the
reasons for floods. Some floods develop slowly, sometimes over a period of days, flash
floods develop quickly (in a short time - Usually less than six hours). Sometimes in just a few
minutes and without any visible signs of rain. Some floods can occur suddenly and recede
quickly. Others take days or even months to build and discharge. So, there is no particular
speed of onset is available for these floods.(Home | India Meteorological Department, n.d.)
In AP State, the context of floods is mainly due to the Cyclones & Heavy Rains
(Monsoons) in few cases leading to complete filling of catchment areas and leading to over
flow of those water bodies. The plains thar are low-lying area adjacent a river, lagoon or lake
is also more likely to have floods anytime the water level rises. This includes coastal areas
and shorelines, as seawater can easily be swept inland by strong winds, tides, and tsunamis.
The department monitors the data of river channels from APWRMS websites
continuously during heavy rains or like situations. The Main inputs are from CWC – Central
Water Commission which is the nodal agency for providing warnings over floods to the
APSDMA. Upon those inputs, the department makes inundation maps over the flow of the
flood water from the respective channels. Sample data of the data of Prakasam Barrage has
been given in the figure 22.

Figure 20 Reservoir data - Courtesy APEWRIMS & CWC

They make simulations (figure 23) based on the Cusecs of water that is released from
the dam to the areas that are lying near those routes, upon which issue of warnings will be
made be the department through the protocols and media as well. Department makes flood

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forecasting by understanding the meteorological and hydrological conditions and respective
nodal agencies i.e.; IMD & CWC, in coordination with the state irrigation department.

Figure 21 Flood Simulation Map for AP State - Courtesy APWRIMS

As said, Department issues warnings in various modes, i.e.; through electronic media,
social media, general warning indicators, telephonic SMS etc(Figure 24 – Flash Flood
Warning from IMD). Simultaneously department alerts various departments and the response
forces i.e; NDRF, SDRF, Fire Services etc and deputes them according to the severity. Co-
ordinating with the teams over the evacuation process etc. helps in reducing the impact of
loss in terms of lives.

Figure 22 Flash Flood Warning - Courtesy IMD

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 Major rivers of State Andhra Pradesh are Godavari, Krishna, Tungabhadra, Pennar,
Manjira, Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers are prone to recurring floods. Major part of flood
zone is seen along the Krishna Godavari Delta region. And state is further classified into
Pennar Basin, Krishna Basin, Godavari Basin, Nagavali Basin, Vamsadhara Basin, Khalangi
Basin, Alaniar Basins. CWC monitors these inflow and outflows of these rivers and their
tribunals and gives warnings of the catchments are filled and upon their inputs Department
will issue warning as below to government officials and to public via social media and
messages (Figure(s) 25). Also, it co-ordinates with the response agencies for evacuation/relief
activities.

Figure 23 Flood Warnings - Social Media Platforms

Department issues various alerts and warnings on hourly basis till the event back to
normal. And as said earlier, department maintains the track of the relief agencies deployed at
affected locations(Figure 26).

Figure 24 Data of deployed teams for rescue operations during Krishna Floods - Courtesy 2019 Annual Report

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 Simultaneous Department make follow-ups with
Revenue, Agriculture, R&B, other departments for post
disaster need assessments. According those inputs
department speaks with the communicates to concern
authorities for necessary actions. And upon the data from
respective mandals, department prepares the damage
assessment reports on the event.
One Such report of the was the data mention in figure
27. This data represents the damage caused during the River
Godavari Floods Caused during 2019. This was report has
detailed information of total population effected, Agriculture
and livestock loss, Mortality, Infrastructure Damage, Relief
Camps data were mentioned clearly. This reports helps in resilience plans and policies in
future.

Human Loss:

Four persons lost their lives in East Godavari District due to Godavari flood.

Relief Operations done by APSDMA:

38,524 persons shifted to 114 relief camps in East Godavari District.

215 medical camps were organized in East Godavari District.

1873 persons shifted to 11 relief camps in West Godavari District.

Figure 25 Godavari floods Damage Report - Courtesy Annual Report 2019

Figure 26 Flood Prone Mandals - Courtesy GIS APSDMA

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DROUGHT
It is a slow onset event which is a climatological related event, which is generally termed
to the situation of natural reduction in the amount of precipitation over an extended period of
time. This duration could be a season or more in length. Drought could be associated with
other climatic factors (viz. high temperatures, high winds and low relative humidity) which
aggravates the severity of the drought event. This has an severe impact on the Agri Horti
culture and fishing related sectors as there will be shortage of water which they are very
dependent on.
There are few types of terminologies related to drought, they are Meteorological Drought,
Hydrological drought, Agricultural drought and Socio-economic drought.
According to the Metrological standards, metrological drought is the situation when the
Seasonal rainfall received over the area is less than 75% of its long-term average value,
Moderate drought if the rainfall deficit is between 26-50%, Severe drought when the deficit
exceeds 50% of the normal. State AP has an average rainfall of 1094 mm in Coastal districts
where as 680 mm of rainfall in Rayalaseema districts according to 2018 reports. Since state
rivers and agriculture are completely depend on rainfall, whenever the rainfall is less or
unevenness of rains within monsoons impacts the crops and thus it creates a shortage of crop
or grains in the state.
Hydrological Drought is the situation of Period during which the stream flows are
inadequate to supply established use of water under a given water management system. This
is generally observed when the rainfall of a region or the upstream areas are comparable less
and the stream water is being diverted or stored for future purposes or any other reasons.
Agricultural Drought is a situation that arises when the available soil moisture is
inadequate for healthy crop growth and cause extreme stress and wilting. This actually arises
when less rainfall is observed for a few seasons, improper agricultural practices, and poor or
low rainwater harvesting practices.
Socio-economic Drought is a situation when abnormal water shortage affects all aspects
of the established economy of a region. Adversely affects the social fabric of society, creating
unemployment, migration, discontent, and various other problems in the society. These
problems are mainly observed when a particular area is for prolonged periods of lack or
severe shortage of rain.
Rayalaseema Districts of the State of Andhra Pradesh are more prone to these events due
to the terrain/geographical conditions. Less or lack of irrigation facilities and the dependency
on groundwater are the factors leading to these conditions in these districts.
Once shortage in rainfall is identified, Department starts co-ordinating with the District
Collector and the Directorate of Economics and Statistics to take immediate action for the
implementation of additional crop cutting trials to figure out the estimates of average yields at
the Mandal level. The Revenue Agency will plan and execute this process under supervision
of the Statistical Agency. The procedures for carrying out crop-cutting experiments and the
format that should be followed, as laid out are mentioned.
Since drought not only effects humans, but also animals, addressing the fodder demand
too challenging task. For this the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Departments will start

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awareness activities and publicise their decision to set aside 3% of harvested land for fodder
production. It will be decided which employment-generating projects to implement, and
MGNREGA will be started. Migration to cities to make a living would also be prevalent.
Therefore, when evaluating the drought situation, it is important to include elements
connected to migration, loss of livelihoods, and access to activities that ensure employment.
Department helps in preparing a statement showing the actual rainfall received during
the period, the normal rainfall in the area, the deficiency in rainfall, and the number of rainy
days should be prepared by the District Administration and furnished Mandal-wise and
submitted to the Commissioner. Disaster Management for taking appropriate steps like. The
Statement shows water levels in various major irrigation and minor irrigation sources in each
Mandal in the district indicating the normal levels during the corresponding period of normal
year and the existing levels and the period for which the supply would be sufficient, duly
indicating the areas falling under fully/partly assured irrigation sources.
This statement will be furnished with data like water resources available over that
region, water supply, ration, child-mother information for nutrition supply, Animals etc..,
With this statement, department sends proposals to the Government for sanction of funds
under drought relief program, the Collectors make a note that money available under
Calamity Relief Fund is meant for emergent needs for providing temporary relief and not for
taking up permanent works and for infrastructure development.
The requisition of funds should be made to the concerned administrative department
for meeting the expenditure under normal/planned schemes for taking up permanent works.
As per the provision laid down in Treasury Rule (TR)-27.
Declaration of Drought:
The proposals for declaration of drought will be examined with reference to the norms
and the Collectors should send a specific report to the Commissioner Revenue (DM) by
taking Mandal as the unit for mitigation:
i. Deficiency in rainfall of 25% and above in Mandals where the annual normal
rainfall is > 1000 mm; 20% and above in Mandals where the annual normal
rainfall is 750 to 1000 mm and 15% and above in Mandals where the annual
normal rainfall is < 750 mm.
ii. Compression / reduction in the cropped areas of 50% and above under all
principal crops.
iii. Normal reduction in crop yields of 50% and above in relation to average
yields.
iv. Dry Spells and its impact on crop damages
Of these four conditions, rainfall condition should be compulsory and rest any two norms are
to be fulfilled for declaring of Drought.

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 Figure 27 Drought Prone Mandals of AP State - Courtesy APSMDA GIS

By seeing above map (figure 29) 387 of 679 mandals are prone for droughts which is
around 57% of total. Department helps various stakeholders before, during and after the
drought situation, i.e.; drought monitoring – Continuous observation of rainfall situation,
water availability in reservoirs and lakes, rivers, preparing plans with the help of respective
departments, preparing mitigative measures, creating and spreading awareness, preparing the
damage reports are some of the key aspects of department.

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EARTHQUAKE
It is one of the major natural hazards which is a Geophysical event that can cause
devesting loss in terms of human, infrastructure and economic losses. Earthquakes is
generally happened to be due to plate movements and these are along the plate boundaries
inter-plate earthquakes which releases maximum seismic energy and other type of
earthquakes are observed when plate margins at large distances i.e.; intra-plate earthquakes.
Severity of earthquake is defined by its Magnitude, Intensity and Epicentre. Epicentre is
the point on the surface of the Earth, vertically above the place of origin of an earthquake,
Magnitude of the earthquake measured on the basis of ground motion recorded by an
instrument and applying standard correction for the epicentral distance from recording
station. It is related with the logarithm of amount of energy released by an earthquake and
expressed in Richter Scale. IMD has classified Earthquake into 4 categories basing on the
richter scale which were mentioned in Table no. 4. And Intensity is about the effects of an
earthquake at a particular place on humans, structures and (or) the land itself which is
measured in the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (Table 5).
Magnitude on Richter Scale Severity
Up to 4.9 Slight
5.0 to 6.9 Moderate
7.0 to 7.9 Great
8.0 and more Very Great
Table 4 Richter Scale Severity - Courtesy IMD Earthquake Division

National Center for Seismology (NCS) is the nodal agency of the Government of India
for monitoring of earthquake activity in the country. NCS monitors earthquake activity all
across the country through its 24x7 around-the-clock monitoring center. NCS also monitors
earthquake swarm and aftershock by deploying a temporary observatory close to the affected
region. Apart from earthquake monitoring, NCS is also actively involved in Seismic Hazard
Micro-zonation and seismological research. The major activities currently being pursued by
the NCS are: Operation and maintenance of national seismological network comprising of
more than 150 Stations., Maintenance of Seismological data center and information services,
Aftershock/Earthquake swarm monitoring/survey.(Official Website of National Center for
Seismology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, n.d.) It provides earthquake data and
seismicity reports of specific regions to various user agencies such as, insurance companies,
industrial units, powerhouses, river valley projects, etc., on a payment basis. Seismological
data and earthquake-related information is also supplied to agencies dealing with relief.
Apart from NCS, IMD too responsible for monitoring seismic activity in and around
the country. IMD has rendered more than hundred ten years of seismological service to the
nation with the first seismological observatory of the country having been set up by the
department at Kolkata in 1898. The operational task of the department is to quickly estimate
the earthquake source parameters immediately on occurrence of an earthquake and
disseminate the information to all the user agencies including the concerned State and Central
Government agencies responsible for carrying out relief and rehabilitation measures. The
information relating to under-sea earthquakes capable of generating tsunamis on the Indian
coastal regions is also disseminated to all concerned user agencies including the INCOIS,
Hyderabad for issue of tsunami related messages and

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Intensity as per INTENSITY as SHAKING DESCRIPTION
seismic zone per MMI scale

II I Instrumental Not felt except by a very few under especially favorable conditions.

II II Feeble Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings. Delicately suspended
objects may swing.

II III Slight Felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on the upper floors of buildings. Many do not
recognize it as an earthquake. Standing motor cars may rock slightly. Vibration similar to the passing
of a truck. Duration estimated.

II IV Moderate Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day. At night, some awakened. Dishes, windows,
doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking building. Standing
motor cars rocked noticeably. Dishes and windows rattle alarmingly.

II V Rather Strong Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes and windows broken. Unstable objects
overturned. Clocks may stop

II VI Strong Felt by all; many frightened and run outdoors, walk unsteadily. Windows, dishes, glassware broken;
books off shelves; some heavy furniture moved or overturned; a few instances of fallen plaster.
Damage slight.

III VII Very Strong Difficult to stand; furniture broken; damage negligible in building of good design and construction;
slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly
designed structures; some chimneys broken. Noticed by persons driving motor cars.

IV VIII Destructive Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable in ordinary substantial buildings with
partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns,
monuments, walls. Heavy furniture moved.

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V IX Ruinous General panic; damage considerable in specially designed structures, well-designed frame structures
thrown out of plumb. Damage great in substantial buildings, with partial collapse. Buildings shifted
off foundations.

V X Disastrous Some well built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed with
foundation. Rails bent.

V XI Very Disastrous Few, if any masonry structures remain standing. Bridges destroyed. Rails bent greatly.

V XII Catastrophic Total damage - Almost everything is destroyed. Lines of sight and level distorted. Objects are thrown
into the air. The ground moves in waves or ripples. Large amounts of rock may move.
Table 5 Modified Mercalli Scale - Courtesy National Centre for Sesimology

warnings. The earthquake information is also transmitted to public information channels, press, media etc. and posted on IMD’s Website.
Even All the coastal districts are in Zone-III, after the incident of 1992 Lathur earthquake, State government has decided to make an
Action Plan for disaster risk reduction (DRR), in case of a sudden event, i.e., an earthquake occurring all of a sudden and has very little warning
available preceding an earthquake, Early Warning Decimation is very difficult. Consequently, planning should provide for a quick response at all
levels to reduce the effects to the bare minimum.
SEOC Department of APSDMA will be formulating, controlling, monitoring and directing measures for earthquake preparedness,
organizing rescue, relief and rehabilitation under Revenue (DM) Department in the State Secretariat and APSDMA will be agency that
coordinates with all agencies and stack holders for activities. A Command-and-Control Room will start its operations & shall be manned by one
Section Officer and will have one Radio set with the operator round the clock throughout the year. A HAM Radio Set with the Disaster
Management Department should also be located in the CCR. Hotlines will be established immediately to coordinate with the Districts and
Secretariat. Telephone and fax numbers of the CCR of all the districts, officers of the departments involved in the Disaster Management, and the
agencies, including the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who are likely to play an active role in the relief operations, are available in
the database. Information about the population, houses, assets, etc., of the affected places, will be circulated to the relief and secretariat, which
are received from the Mandal & District nodal agencies.

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 As said earlier that a command system which was established during this emergency
response forces like Police, Fire Brigade control rooms, NDRF, SDRF teams lines too will
also be included with immediately by SEOC. If the intensity of the earthquake is high,
Special Commissioner of DM will be taking as Incharge of operations. These operations
include deployment of emergency rescue vehicles, activating ERCs for prompt mobilization
of teams and resources, establishing of alternative communication links through VSAt, HAM
Radio, Satellite phones etc.. between SEOC, DEOC and MEOCs.
Department co-ordinates with various government agencies like transport department,
Civil Aviation, Health department. Dept. of Science and Technology, Home Department,
R&B Department, Food & Civil Supply etc. and monitors situation and takes measures
accordingly, simultaneously department communicates with secretariate over the situation via
revenue department in hotlines.
Also, department, make follow-ups with Revenue, Agriculture, R&B, other
departments and nodal agencies for post disaster need assessments. According those inputs
department speaks with the communicates to concern authorities for necessary actions. Once
the need assessment is made, department communicates to all nodal departments, and the
other deputation of adequate manpower, vehicles accordingly for removal of debris and
Identification and demolition of dangerous structures to minimize the further loss of life and
injuries. Once things get settling, department collects all related the data from respective
mandals, department prepares the damage assessment reports of the event.

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 IEC – INFORMATION, EDUCATION, AND COMMUNICATION

Since Disasters are the events which creates devasting loss, a huge manpower is
needed during the event to mitigate further losses or damages. And one shouldn’t completely
rely on rescue forces arrivals for getting aid because over that period every second counts and
precious. So preparedness is one of the major aspects we should habituate.
It is a phase of peace and offers chance for system and societal capacity development.
To be able to carry out their individual roles and responsibilities at the start of the crisis, each
stakeholder needs to grow and improve their capabilities. So APSDMA has implemented
few measures and SOP’s which were prepared by SEOC team according to the Sendai
Framework, and NDMA guidelines and Sphere book standards. Department has prepared
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Cyclones which includes the roles and
responsibilities of various officials, departments and stakeholders during the event, ERPs, is
notified. This SOPS prepared also concentrate on resource planning procedures that allows
structured responses during preparedness phase for fixing identified weak links, on alert
phase for evacuation, during the event phase for shelter management, search & rescue and
post event phase for damage assessment and restoration of services. The web-based platform
proposed helps the disaster managers at various levels to request, monitor, and mobilize and
to record the compliance of each and every pre-defined action listed in the SOP.
Also, Department Assist the State Government in formulation of policy for relief,
rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery. Monitor preparation, updating and
implementation of disaster management plans. Promote awareness and preparedness among
all stakeholders regarding potential disasters. Assist in the development of methodologies for
the reduction of vulnerability to disasters. Publish various guidelines to be followed for
various phases of disaster management. Inspect existing development plans made by various
authorities and recommend measures to be incorporated for disaster management. Develop a
database of key experts, consultants, organizations, agencies, etc., working in the field of
disaster management.
As a part of preparedness, department performs IEC activities for Building public
awareness of the dos and don'ts during emergencies and emergency numbers enables people
to act proactively as and when the need arises. A well-prepared community also lessens the
likelihood of reducing the disaster risk. The APSDMA often runs publicity campaigns in
newspapers, radio, and television. Audio-visual promotions using songs, brochures, movies,
etc. are among them. The campaigns discuss potential risks and other safety precautions in
accordance with the seasonality of risks in the State, such as safety precautions during
Deepavali celebrations and heat waves.
Since Media – Printed, Social & Printed places a very crucial role in spreading
information, Department utilizes these platforms for creating and spreading awareness to
maximum reach in both Telugu and English Figures 30 to 34 resembles the same
information. So, for this end-to-end advertisement, hoarding, Booklets, leaflets, banners, etc.
forms are utilized.

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Figure 28 IEC Activity on Floods - Courtesy APSDMA IEC Figure 29 IEC Activity on Cyclones - Courtesy APSDMA IEC

Figure 30 IEC Activity on Heatwave - Courtesy APSDMA Figure 31 IEC Activity on Lightning - Courtesy APSDMA Tweet

Similarly, it spreads information on various other events like Biological, Chemical

emergencies, Cold wave, Drought, Earthquake, fire accidents, landslides, Tsunami, Nuclear-
Radiological Emergencies and other events.
Also it Organize awareness camps for children and make use of folk dance and music,
plays, painting competitions, debate contests, etc.. to disseminate information. Organize
disaster management exhibitions and use scientific tools like demonstrations, etc.. to
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disseminate awareness about various hazards and the ways to deal with them. Arrange for TV
Spot, Radio spot, Community Radio, audio-visuals. Documentary, etc., in order to reach out
masses in general.

Figure 32 Awareness in the form of videos - Courtesy APSDMA Tweet

These forms of information and communications not only creates awareness and
preparedness in the communities but only a part of Capacity building which Sendai
Framework is more focused on.

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 Web-EOC

Andhra Pradesh is susceptible to various disasters like cyclones, storm surge, floods
and other natural as well as manmade hazards. Apart from these, the state is also highly
susceptible to the extreme weather events like lightning and heat waves which every year
results in the death of few hundred’s in the state. The state over the years has gained valuable
experiences from a series of natural disasters and is striving to achieve expertise in
monitoring and reducing the loss caused by disasters with the help of various technological
developments. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster
Management under Revenue (DM) Department, is the nodal agency that manages and co-
ordinates the various level of emergencies in state.
The Revenue (DM) Department under the World Bank funded Andhra Pradesh
Disaster Recovery Project (APDRP), has taken up a project for establishing an Integrated
Emergency Management (IEMS) platform for Andhra Pradesh to manage natural as well as
human induced disasters along with special events like mass-gatherings and day-to-day
emergency operations. The solution procured by department is named as Web-EOC which is
a Virtual Emergency Operation Centre that addresses all the phases of disaster and brings all
the departments Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) on the single platform for efficient
and effective management of the emergencies.
The Web-EOC solution provides single web-based platform to overcome existing
challenges of real time sharing of information and resources i.e., equipment/human resources;
this system also cater the need of field deployment of various response forces, relief
management, shelter management, logistics management, damage assessment and
memorandum preparations.
The Web-EOC solution is known world-wide for its flexibility for adopting any
organizational structure and processes, similarly, the Web-EOC for Andhra Pradesh, has been
configured as per the Incident Response System (IRS) adopted by NDMA for the better and
effective management of disaster. The Web-EOC enables the District Collectors who are
Incident Commanders (IC) of their districts, to keep check over all departmental activities
during the time of crisis management of their districts. The Web-EOC enables Incident
Commanders (IC) to manage and monitor multiple large-scale emergencies/incidents with a
single user login. It enables Incident Commanders to activate various incidents for their
jurisdictions, if IC feels that the incident demands multiple departmental coordination.
The WebEOC will ensure the real time flow of information from the various
administrative units i.e. from Mandals level to the highest decision-making authorities i.e.
Commissioners, Secretaries, Ministers and Chief Minister Office and provides single
emergency management platform for all State Line departments connecting the State
Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), District Emergency Operation Centre’s (DEOCs),
Mandal Emergency Operation Centre’s (MEOCs), Control Rooms State Line Departments
including response forces on a single platform.
The Web-EOC solution has been also integrated with the weather and disaster
forecasting nodal agencies like IMD and INCOIS along with the existing systems of Andhra

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Pradesh weather forecasting and monitoring, so as to enable EOCs to monitor any kind of
hazards in the real time manner.
The Web-EOC solution comes mobile application version as well, which further
penetrates the reach of software in the hands of field operatives to manage the situation at the
ground level in the quick manner. With the use of mobile application, the user will get
location specific warning forecast of their jurisdiction in the form of mobile notification.

Andhra Pradesh State Emergency Operation Centre – Web-EOC System

Andhra Pradesh is the first state in India implementing an Integrated Emergency

Management Solution i.e. Web-EOC. Upon the commissioning of Web-EOC in the state,
EOCs can carry out emergency operations such as emergency alert dissemination, emergency
preparedness, deployment and tracking of response teams, monitoring of significant
events/incidents across the state, tracking resource requests from various departments,
tracking of resources deployed, managing relief measures and relief camps, mapping of
closed routes, damage assessment and report generations for preparing memorandums
managing all phases of disaster through single platform.
The WebEOC acts as a bridge for the existing gap of national as well as state response
forces and state administration, as the local, district and state level officers can track the
location, equipment and the operational status of various response teams through dashboards.

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CASE DETAILS OF HOW APSDMA’s SEOC HANDLED
CYCLONE MANDOUS

December 2nd - 3rd 2022 – Identification of Favourable Conditions

Conditions favourable for Low Pressure Area (figure 35 )which is likely to form by
4th December 2022 being identified in South Andaman Sea by Indian Meteorological
Department.

Figure 33 IMD Tweet on 2nd & 3rd December on Cyclone Mandous at Low Pressure Stage

Prediction of Areas of North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & South Andhra Pradesh likely
to be affected by 8th of December was also specified in the tweet.
Information on above information was communicated to APSDMA’s SEOC from
IMD on 3rd December Weather Reports. SEOC Issued bulletin on the same in its 20:30 hrs
report to the officials and media.
December 4th 2022 – Information on Likely Conversion to Cyclonic Strom
State Emergency Operations Centre of APSDMA issued public information via Social
Media Platforms at 08:42 Hrs. Mentioning the details of cyclone movement direction and the
timeline of formation of Cyclone.
Bulletin States, it is likely to move W-NW direction and become a Cyclonic Storm
(CS) over southeast Bay of Bengal by morning of December 07., (figure 36 gives the
information of the direction and movement.) After that, it is likely to move W-NW and reach
southwest Bay of Bengal near north Tamil Nadu and south coast by morning of December
08.

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 Figure 34 APSDMA Issued Bulletin on 4th December

December 5th- 6th 2022 – Likely to be Affected Districts were announced

SEOC released bulletin on December 4th night 23:00 hrs and published through
Social-Media on 5th December 2022 08:16 hrs.
Most likely to be affected Districts of South Andhra Pradesh (Prakasam, SPSR
Nellore and Tirupati Districts) and Rayalaseema (Chittoor, YSR and Annamayya Districts)
were announced with the rainfall predictions given by IMD. Figure 38 & 39 gives the
information of the districts information as mentioned above.

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 Figure 36
35 IMD's Prediction - SEOC Bulletin
bulletin with Figure 37 IMD Prediction with Cone of Uncertainty - Track of
district details
District Deep Depression

Information/Bulletin which was issued by the SEOC was being

published through various platforms i.e; electronic media, printed media,
social media. Figure 40 is the News Paper printed matter on the Cyclone.
Simultaneously All Alerts and precautionary advices were issued to
concerned District, Mandal officials and Departments aswell through the
dedicated groups in WhatsApp & Telegram.

Figure 38 Information through Newspapers

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 December 7th – 8th 2022 – Early Warning Dissemination via Message & Deep Depression to
Cyclonic Strom - MANDOUS
As the Deep Depression is turning to cyclonic Strom, IMD has officially announced
the declaration of Mandous as the name of Cyclone. As its heading toward coast, IMD &
SEOC has increased its bulletin frequency in hourly basis. Simultaneously Department sent
Disaster Warning Messages to be affected districts in the form of text messages in telugu
language so that majority members will understand the information.

Figure 39 Declaration as Cyclonic Strom Mandous - Courtesy IMD

Simultaneously Department followed the

Observed records of ARG of APSDPS & IMD
and continouly made followups with the concern
stations and mandals to review the situation over
there. And reports of same has been sent to the
Secreteriate and took all precautionary measures
from Department and government side.
As Said, Department utilized the benefits of the
technology they have implemented i.e.,
Common Alert Portal to send the Warning and
alert messages to the common public basing on

Figure 40 Information through NEWS Paper the situation. Below picture is the reference of
the messages sent to individual districts and the
subscriber count too mentioned over the sheet.
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 Figure 41 DWDS through Common Alert Portal Report of 7th December 2022

As the Deep Depression turned to Cyclone, Department engagement with Government Officials and District Collectors has increased.
Simultaneously, PRO too sent information to local and national media, Social media platforms over the cyclone. Information was sent as
Disaster Warning Dissemination the repot of the message and the detailed reach has been mentioned in the figure 41.

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December 9th 2022 – Confirmation of Cyclone Mandous to Severe Cyclone and weaken back
to Cyclone just before hitting the Land.
As the said earlier, department started issuing hourly bulletins to the respected district
collectors via protocols and simultanously Communication with respective mandals was
happened and the verification of observe data and enquiring the ground realities.

Figure 42 APSDMA Alert via Twitter on Cyclone data.

Alerts for Fisherman communities (Figure

no 43) were given which are issued by IMD. SEOC
issued 210 Mandals are to be affected with this
cyclone. So NDRF and SDRF Teams 9 teams (5+4)
were deployed as Prakasam-2, Nellore-3, Tirupati-
2, Chittoor-2 for relief operations. And Alert
messages to about crore subscribers in 6 districts
through Common Alert Protocol, AP Alert.
Also, the details of Landfall were mentioned
as “Coastal crossing near Mahabalipuram between
Puducherry-Srihari Kota is likely from midnight
tonight to early tomorrow morning. Strong gusty
winds of 65-85 km/h during the day, As a result of
this, heavy to very heavy rains occurred here and
there in Prakasam, Nellore and Tirupati districts of
South Coast.” Figure 43 Advicory for Fisherman Community

And the warnings on Heavy rainfall were issued for

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the affected areas.

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December 10th 2022 - Deceleration of Deep Depression to Depression and from
Depression to Well Marked Low Pressure

After Landfall, Department officially declared the information (Figure 44) to

departments and District officials through bulletins and other social media handles
(figure 44). Landfall was happened to be around 1:30 hrs of 10th Dec 2022 between
SriHari kota, Nellore and Mahabalipuram, Chennai.

Figure 44 Tweet on announcement of Landfall

And declared rainfall predictions over those affected districts. SEOC team were
continuously worked until this event was settled to deep depression.
At 19:30 Hrs Department has officially released Bulletin (Figure 45 & 46) that the Deep
Depression was converted to Well Marked Low Pressure Area.

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Figure 45 APSDMA's Bulletin on 10th December - Decleration of Well Marked Low Pressure

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Figure 46 IMD Declaration on 10th December

Even they officially declared Well Marked Low Pressure area, Department hasn’t
stopped its communication with the mandal and district officials and continuously
monitored the situation and collected the Status reports daily. They really coordinated in
a very established was with all the departments till grass root level.
Inspite of these efforts of SEOC and APSDMA, With Minimal Fatalities (1
recorded), state has managed this Cyclone in a very fantabulous way.

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 BIBILOGRAPHY
APSDMA - (Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority). (n.d.). Retrieved December 1,
2022, from https://apsdma.ap.gov.in/

Central Water Commission, Ministry of jal shakti, Department of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, GoI |. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2022, from
http://cwc.gov.in/

Home | India Meteorological Department. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2022, from

https://mausam.imd.gov.in/

National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP). (n.d.).

Official website of National Center for Seismology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.
(n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://seismo.gov.in/

MoAFW (2009) Manual for Drought Management, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India

GoI (2005) Disaster Management Act 2005 GoI (2009) National Policy on Disaster Management

NDMA Guidelines: http://ndma.gov.in/en/ndma-guidelines.html

NIH (2016) http://www.nih.ernet.in/rbis/india_information/draught.html (Hydrology and Water

Resources Information System for India

UNISDR (2009) UNISR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction.

http://www.unisdr.org/files/7817_UNISDRTerminologyEnglish.pdf

UNISDR (2015a), Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

http://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/publications/43291

UNISDR (2015b) Proposed Updated Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction: A Technical Review.
45462_backgoundpaperonterminologyaugust20.pdf (preventionweb.net)

UNISDR (2015c) Global Assessment Report 2015.

https://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/publications/42809

UNISDR (2016) http://www.unisdr.org/2006/ppew/tsunami/what-is-tsunami/backinfor-brief.html

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