The trigger mechanism envisage that on receiving signals of a disaster happening or likely to happen, all activities required for the mitigation process are energised and activated simultaneously without loss of any time and the management of the event is visible on the ground. The primary objectives of the Trigger mechanism are to undertake immediate rescue and relief operations and stabilise the mitigation process as quickly as possible.
The Trigger mechanism is infact a preparedness plan in which all the participating officers and agencies know in advance the task assigned to them and the manner in which they have to be prepared themselves to respond. As such the organisation and planning has already been taken care of. The resources are identified including manpower, materials and equipment. The performers should have adequate delegation of financial and administrative powers and have the mandate for accomplishing the task.
Generally the activities include evacuation, search and rescue, temporary shelter, food, drinking water, clothing, health and sanitation, communications, accessibility and public information. All these major activities, which are common in all types of disaster, require sub division and preparation of sub action plans by each specified authority. They will be required to list all requirements and their availability within the prescribed response time.
To sum up, the trigger mechanism is an emergency quick response, mechanism like ignition switch, when energized, spontaneously sets the vehicles of management into motion on the road of Disaster mitigation.
The Commissioner of Revenue Administration / State Relief Commissioner undertakes all activities relating to Disaster Management and Mitigation besides managing relief and rehabilitation activities of any Disaster in the State.
At District Level, The District Collector has responsibility for overall Management of Disaster Management (The Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation will be responsible for over all Management of Disaster in Chennai Corporation areas). All the Departments of State Government including Police, Fire Service, Public Works Department, Highways,etc., work in co-ordinated manner under the leadership of The District Collector during Disaster.
The The District Collector, the Chairman of the Disaster Management Organisation activates the trigger mechanism in the district. Immediately, on receipt of warning message he starts issuing and receiving information to and from all the departments, which each department is expected to pass on. Standard operating procedures (SOPS) of various departments are listed out.
In order to respond to disasters the State Disaster Management Plan allows all disaster specific mechanisms to work together at the time of emergency. For this purpose the existing administrative set up at State level needs to be defined and make it more specific and operational in terms of emergency management. The Incident Response System (IRS) which has been taken as an effective disaster management system considering the administrative establishment proposes Chief Secretary as the head supported by the Commissioner of Revenue & Disaster Management (CRA) at State level and The District Collectors at district level with Emergency Operation Centres (EOC).
Alert Mechanism
It is marked that the early warning message of a disaster declared by its concerned competent agency first through electronic media and print media. Based on such early warning or report from The District Collector on occurrence of a disaster, the State disaster response mechanism will be activated and kept on standby position to respond to the situation on priority basis.The details of competent agencies work on early warning are given below.
| Nature of Disaster | Competent Agencies |
|---|---|
| Earthquake | IMD, ISR |
| Floods | Water Resource Dept., IMD |
| Cyclones | IMD |
| Tsunami | INCOIS, ISR, IMD |
| Drought | Agriculture Department |
| Epidemics | Health and Family Welfare Dept. |
| Industrial and Chemical Accidents | Industry, Director Industrial Safety and Health |
| Fire | Fire and Rescue Services Dept. |
A Emergency Control room with toll free four digit public utility service telephone No.1070 with incoming facility alone has already been installed at the State headquarters at Chennai for receiving information on disaster and Public Toll Free No.1077 also installed at each district.
The four digit toll free telephone has been placed in the control room / Emergency operation centre and manned round the clock.
The broadcast in VHF system will commence with a peep sound. Soon after that there will be two minutes silence. During this period, the set operator should prepare himself to take down the message that would be broadcasted through this system. As soon as he has taken down the message he should communicate the message to all concerned at once for taking necessary immediate action. As message would be broadcasted at any time, during the period of bad weather it is absolutely necessary that responsible Assistants are posted in turn system to attend to this important item of work, round the clock. All concerned officials should take necessary action to communicate warning messages received immediately to all concerned as and when received during the monsoon period. All the officers, who are entrusted with flood relief operations, are requested to avail of this facility by having a close contact with the officers where the set has been installed, ascertain the weather position and plug into the action as circumstances warrant