An overview of GSI mission in Disaster Management using Geoinformatics

About 60% of area in India is prone to various natural hazards. The frequent natural hazards in the late 20 ^th century, have forced some of the Organisations under Government of India to plan for risk reduction by early warning system and to mitigate the post disaster effects. Geological Survey of India (GSI) is one of the oldest survey organizations, which is one among the government organisations engaged in the study of natural hazard in India for more than last 125 years apart from its main activity of mineral exploration. From the year 2004, GSI being the convener of the Technical Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) prepares Landslide Hazard Zonation Mapping as these base maps depict the ground reality in disaster prone areas and provide meaningful insights into various decisions making. The article presents the futuristic plan of GSI from middle of XI plan to XIII plan using 3D GIS, RDBMS, 3D processing technology, etc. in preparation of National ¾ Dimension (3/4D) geospatial data with special reference to natural hazard management, particularly integrated thematic mapping after geomorphological mapping, scale as per site specific requirements based on the vulnerability, for the purpose of Natural Hazards Processes and GeoEnvironmental Hazard, etc., The article further focuses on the relevant portion of Mission III of the GSI on Geoinformatics, Mission IV of the GSI on natural hazards viz., landslide, earthquake, flood and volcanoes and Mission V of the GSI on Training and Capacity Building. The authors conclude that Geoinformatics as a tool of Intelligent Decision Support System, Expert system and Earth Observation System, can play a major role in Disaster Management and can sustainably contribute towards nation's sustainable development.