In wake of Myanmar earthquake, Delhi govt gets ball rolling for a new emergency centre

The issue was discussed in a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on March 12, chaired by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, and with Chief Minister Rekha Gupta also in attendance. Saxena had requested the CM, who is the DDMA vice-chairperson, to address “issues of logistics that had been hitherto neglected by the previous government”.

Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, while tabling the Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal in the Legislative Assembly last month, had noted that the Capital “is highly vulnerable to various disasters”.

Discussions at the meeting, officials said, focussed on the grim picture – from the point of view of disaster mitigation – revolving around the vulnerability of densely populated areas like Narela, Bawana, Majnu ka Tila, Shahdara, Sonia Vihar and Shaheen Bagh, among others, located along the Yamuna in North, Northwest and Southwest Delhi, falling in highly quake-probable areas.

The lack of structural integrity of housing units in such areas, with thin walls and multi-storeys, was one of the most significant issues that are said to have been flagged.

This was in addition to ensuring the retrofitment of more facilities, which may be required in the event of a natural disaster – such as hospitals, of which only a handful like AIIMS, Lok Nayak, and GB Pant, among others, are currently retrofitted.

“Delhi lacks a unified command and control centre to coordinate disaster response among various agencies. A state-of-the-art EOC has been proposed to provide a single emergency number for better crisis management. An amount of Rs 30 crore has been allocated for setting up Command Control Centres, EOC under DDMA,” Gupta had said in her Budget speech, adding that these would be equipped with the latest machinery and communications equipment.

With Rs 30 crore earmarked in the Budget for the EOC, which will be required to function “purely from a disaster mitigation point of view” when required, a senior government official said the process is now set to pick up speed, even as Myanmar and Thailand recover from the recent earthquakes that jolted these countries.

“The request for an earthquake-resilient building, which will ensure seamless communication in the event of a disaster, has been made to the Delhi Development Authority. It has allotted land for the EOC and the process of its creation is expected to start soon,” the official said.