from daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji, Nov 13: The national disaster management support system, chalked out to have advanced disaster warnings resulting in better disaster management, will be in place in a year's time, stated Dr G Madhavan Nair, chairman, Indian Space Research organization (ISRO).

 "Under this system a database would be created about flood prone areas and other disasters banking on their past history and real time observations which will be routed through a disaster management centre," Nair said participating in the Asia Pacific Remote sensing conference which began here.
 
Goa governor S C Jamir inaugurated this conference which has a participation of world renowned institutes like ISRO, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, National Aeronautics and Space administration (NASA), National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NAOA), National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), National Institute of Information and Communications and Technology (NICT) and US-based National Polar Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
 
"We have committed ourselves to national disaster management system . It  will study ups and downs and type of water flow in river bed and how much area can be affected with the floods… It will also have details of land utilization and population covered," Dr Nair stated.

Through disaster management system, the data collected would be communicated to the concerned states which will activate its disaster management authorities to act swiftly, he stated.
 
He said that once this system is in place, the disaster warning could be issued at least few hours before it strikes. "This technology, however, will not be able to help in case of earthquakes as earthquake prediction technology is not fully developed," Dr Nair clarified.
 
About weather prediction, Dr Nair said there are host of censors which needs to come in existence. "Gases like ozone, nitrous dioxide, carbon dioxide play major role in detecting weather… we need censors to detect movement of such gases in space and ground level. It is important that we have network of such censors at ground and also in the sea," he added.

ISRO chairman rued that there is no proper agreement on sharing of data amongst various countries. "Many countries consider it as their property and during real time requirement refuse to share it," he said adding,"system needs to be worked out to enable countries share their datas."

When questioned on tsunami prediction Dr Nair said that ocean pressure detectors are planned which will enable scientists to get data to predict the tsunami disaster.