Design of District Emergency Operations Centres, and the Case Study of Indian Oil Corporation Jaipur Depot Explosion

The author of this paper was appointed by the Government of Rajasthan state in India to design Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) at district level. The assignment was to submit an implementable practical report of district level EOCs design for equipment, personnel and training. This paper describes the process used for this design. A list of priority equipment, staffing pattern and specific training programs were suggested. On the basis of the recommendations, EOCs have been set up in all 33 districts of Rajasthan. The case study of the explosion at the Indian Oil Corporation's Jaipur depot illustrates the use of alternative field EOC in responding to the explosion and the relevance of the EOC consultant's recommendations in responding to the disasters. The objectives of this paper are to share the experiences of designing EOCs in a developing country, and the methods of optimisation for meeting objectives under resource constraints.