Asia-Pacific E-Resilience Toolkit Tool
IDRN India Disaster Resource Network
The India Disaster Resource Network (IDRN) is a web based platform for managing inventories of equipment, skilled human resources and critical supplies for emergency response. The primary focus of the IDRN portal is to enable the decision makers to better understand the availability of equipment and human resources required to deal with any emergency situation.
The nation-wide electronic inventory of resources is comprised of data on equipment and human resources, collated from districts, states and national level line departments and agencies. The available information is readily accessible to anyone online. The user has to select a state and district as well as the resource type which range from 4 wheel drive vehicles, chlorine tablets, electric torch, ladders and so on, and must specify a date period to retrieve information.
The online inventory of resources is hosted at the National Informatics Centre (NIC), New Delhi. Only the authorized Government officers have access to upload data onto the portal and to use the members only sections of the online portal. The district authorities facilitate data collection and updating. Data is monitored and maintained at the central level by National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), under the Ministry of Home Affairs. NIDM is also responsible for the overall administration of the portal.
To keep it comprehensive and sustainable, the initiative has been institutionalized within the national government structure. District Collectors/Magistrates are authorized to collect the latest information on disaster management resources which are available at various line departments/agencies and upload onto the portal, with the assistance of District Informatics Officers. Training programs were carried out over various years up till 2015 on operating and maintaining the database.
The database allows officials to better manage available resources improving response and recovery efforts. The database also enables assessment of levels of preparedness for specific disasters. These elements make this a good best practice on e-resilience, as well as a tool that can be scaled and implemented easily in other parts of the world.
