Risk Management Information System A Spatial Planning Tool for Chemical Disaster Management

1. Risk Management Information SystemA Spatial Planning Tool for Chemical Disaster Management International Conference on Environmental Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi May 10, 2011 SENES Consultants India

2. The Concern • The worst industrial accident occurred in Bhopal in December 1984; • Exposure to Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) leaking from Union Carbide Plant caused significant number of deaths and injuries; • World wide rethink on chemical risk from hazardous installations; Iconic photograph titled “Burial of an unknown child” -by Raghu Rai, Bhopal 1984

3. The Concern • No information available from Union Carbide on the nature of hazards present within premises; • People unaware on how to react to be able to minimize exposure to MIC; • Hospitals & medical professionals did not know what gas was released and how to treat victims; • There was no immediate notification of the accident to the Administration; • There was no Emergency Response Plan & the Administration could not respond to accident on time;

4. Presentation Flow • Key issues in managing chemical risk; • Need for GIS-enabled integrated information systems and modelling tools; • The Risk Management Information System (RMIS);

5. The Issues • Technological risk events typically unfold in matter of hours – short response time • Requires updated information from diverse sources to assess damage • Prediction needs solving of complex algorithms and spatial analysis

6. Why we require information system support? • Management of a chemical risk scenario is information intensive; • Models require high processing power; • Strong spatial dimension;

7. Gaps in existing tools • Provide end point effect distances for different incidents; • Hazard footprints displayed for better visualization; • Risk maps shown as contours; • But, not closely coupled with GIS; ARIPAR ALOHA /MARPLOT EFFECTS

8. Risk Management Information System (RMIS) Key Features: • Aggregate information on industries, chemicals, hazards, vulnerability, emergency responders in a single database; • Provides for spatial analysis and better understanding of chemical risks; • Transparent mechanism for sharing risk related information; • Integrated with QRA based consequence analysis models for providing decision support to risk management actors;

9. RMIS – Key Benefits • High scale of Maps – better representation of hazards and vulnerabilities; • Hazard Data and Maps can be updated / managed in a distributed manner or centrally; • [ Active ] Modeling of accident scenarios – MCLS or any quantity of chemical; • Live Meteorology Information while the risk event is unfolding;

10. Building the RMIS • Industrial town of Haldia in West Bengal; • Identifying and mapping chemical hazards; • Mapping elements at risk; • Appending information in a central database; • Integrating Risk Analysis Models for prediction of accident scenarios;

12. RMIS Interface Info Tool Navigation Tools Spatial Data Tools Hazard Modeler Layers, Search and Legend Tabs Meteorology Data Feed Scale Bar Wind Rose Custom Built User Controls integrated with the web interface Map Area

13. RMIS Interface (contd…) Layer Management

14. RMIS Interface – Search Function Search by Chemical Nature & Quantity Search Results

15. RMIS Interface – Meteorology Daily and Seasonal Wind Patterns

16. RMIS Interface – Hazard Modeler Setting up atmospheric data

17. RMIS Interface – Hazard Modeler (contd…) Preparing the hazard model

18. RMIS Interface – Hazard Modeler (contd…) Affected roads and intersections 35 22 1526 17 Hazard Footprint Vulnerability Data

19. Conclusion • The RMIS has been developed as a versatile and integrated information system that can assist decision makers to effectively plan for and manage a chemical risk event • It will help in reducing the odds of another Bhopal!

20. Nilanjan PaulEmail: npaul@senesindia.com Debanjan BandyopadhyayEmail: debanjan@senesindia.com