The Super Cyclone of October 29,1999 was one of the worst in living memory in terms of its fury and the extent of damage and destruction caused in the 12 coastal Districts of Orissa. A Large number of organizations relating to different Ministries, Departments, various State/District Administrations and the Government of Orissa were involved in the relief operations which were huge and gigantic in proportion. NIC extended its level best support in every possible form towards fighting the calamity.
An inter-departmental unified control room of Natural Disaster Management Group was set up by the Government in the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation at Krishi Bhawan to monitor the rescue and relief activities. A high level team from NIC under the leadership of Dr.N.Vijayaditya, Deputy Director General and Shri M.Moni, Senior Technical Director, and comprising 20 officers was deputed to oversee the regular operations of the control room with respect to Information Technology related issues. This team was involved in the operations round the clock and worked in close co-operation with the Control Room. Further, another team of officers from NIC were deputed to Bhuvaneshwar.
The support extended by NIC included establishing Video Conferencing Facility between Orissa State Secretariat and other sites, providing GIS Support for relief management and also setting up a special web site.
NIC established one mobile VSAT at the Secretariat Buliding in Bhuvaneshwar to facilitate video conferencing between Bhuvaneshwar, Krishi Bhawan (control room) and Vishkhapatnam (relief base). Senior Officers of the State Government and various Ministries of Government of India extensively utilized the Video Conferencing communication facility. A VSAT was also installed at the conference room of the Hon'ble Chief Minister who spoke to the concerned relief officers through video conferencing.
Facilities such as E-mail and Internet connectivity were also upgraded in the control room and these facilities were extensively used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the working of the control room and to make it as automated and paperless as possible.
Apart from the above, a GIS based Relief Management Software was installed in the control room and the system was made operational on 2nd November,1999. Based on the damage information and relief material inflow, various thematic maps were generated. These thematic maps were then given,through the Ministry of Agriculture, to the central teams who visited the affected areas of Orissa.
A special web site (http://www.nic.in/cycloneorissa) was promptly launched to enable the anxious people and concerned organizations from all over the world to get latest, accurate and updated information about the situation.
From the Hon'ble Minister............. Sh. Nitish Kumar, the Hon'ble Minister of Agriculture wrote a letter to all the Members of Parliament apprising them of the relief measures undertaken by the Government in the wake of Orissa Cyclone. An extract from the Minister's letter ( dated 3rd December,1999 ) , mentioning NIC's role in the relief operations is reproduced below :
"The Control Room in the DAC has been strengthened, upgraded and modernised to cope with the increased demand of co-ordinating relief measures. The Control Room is now headed by officers of the level of Joint Secretary and functions round the clock. Communication facilities have also been upgraded to enable contact with the remote areas of the Country. With the help of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the information technology base has also been strengthened and a computerised database and software has been developed. Website was promptly launched to enable the interested and concerned people, organisations, foreign agencies and countries to get updated information about the situation. Email and Internet is being increasingly used so as to improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the working of the Control Room and make it automated and paperless as far as possible."