The Chennai floods in December 2015 wrecked havoc as the city came to a standstill and a lot of people suffered. Although the situation has improved now, Chennai won’t be able to handle another similar flood, if at all it happens.
To prepare Tamil Nadu better for such calamities, and to forecast the possibilities of these natural disasters, the IBM Intelligent Operations Center for Emergency Management, located in Chennai, has been created specifically to help mitigate the destruction from natural calamities.
The technology used by IBM will be its expertise in Cloud, Analytics and Services. These will be used to predict unusual weather patterns, a possibility of a major calamity and help the State Government prepare itself for the incoming disaster.
Amit Sharma, COO at IBM India, said in a statement, “IBM’s impact grant to Tamil Nadu – one of 400 grants we will award this year – demonstrates our corporate commitment to providing innovative analytics, mobile and cloud technology that can assist at all phases of disaster, help governments in India address future disasters, and best meet the needs of its citizens.”
How will IBM Cloud technology help TN Government?
IBM’s skill in cloud technology as well as analytics, will allow it to forecast and predict future times and period of rainfall, winds, humidity and other weather patterns. IBM will also be able to assess the impact of these calamities on the infrastructure of Tamil Nadu, which in turn will provide the Government enough time to mitigate the risk.
This is similar to forecasting a recession and getting better equipped for it. Except, the damage to life and environment is too precious and the TN Government is planning to be better prepared at handling such situations.
The tool will have interactive graphs and depictions to show the effect of the calamities, if any, and how the Government can tackle it one by one. Rainfall in Chennai this year is not expected to be as high as last year, but the state must be fully equipped to tackle other disasters.
This is a welcome move from Tamil Nadu government to partner with IBM and improve the state of affairs. We would like IBM to also propose changes in the infrastructure of the city and avert damages caused by such calamities.
In fact, we should also learn from countries like Japan and Chile, that experience earthquakes regularly, but are quick to get back on their feet with their disaster management skills.
Source: Financial Express