Humanitarian organizations classify disasters as either natural disasters like earthquake, floods, drought, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, landslide, avalanche, wildfire or sudden on-set disasters or complex emergencies like- wars, oil spills, network failures, terrorist attack, civil conflict nuclear accidents etc. All disasters require an efficient and immediate response. This calls for highly efficient management and efforts beyond normal situations. The action is needed to provide succour to the injured, traumatized and distressed.

Recent calamities such as; earthquakes in Gujarat, Chamoli, Latur and Uttarkashi; cyclone in Orissa; Landslide in Pithoragarh; forest fire in Uttaranchal show that India is prone to several types of natural calamities. The other calamities, which our country is prone to, are floods, avalanche, draught, landslide, oil spills, terrorist attacks, civil conflicts, wars etc. All disasters cause human sufferings, loss of life and property along with huge financial loss and economic setback. Therefore the efforts are made to reduce the economic losses, mitigate human sufferings, rehabilitate the people and restore normalcy at the earliest. A plan of action which deals with contingencies that arise in the wake of calamities be it natural or otherwise requires ubiquitous telecommunication services along with other modern high technologies: like computer, software applications, internet, equipment for seismic studies, synthetic aperture, radar, microsonics, satellites, GPS, FLIR, Robots, SONAR, GIS etc for detection, rescue and rehabilitation. All these high tech services involve complex electronics. In this context the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication (IETE) can play an important role to provide inputs for planning, creation of the infrastructure and trained manpower for disaster prevention, rescue and rehabilitation

Telecommunication has played and will play significant role in dealing with disaster management along with broadcasting, Ham radios and other technologies necessary for contact, dissemination of information, detection, rescue and movements of goods/ personnel for rehabilitation. Recent Gujarat Earthquake, which devastated the entire area of Kutch, is fresh in our mind. The havoc caused to buildings and road is well known. It completely disrupted the utility services, telecom, broadcasting media and transportation etc in addition to thousands of death, injuries and untold miseries of the people. It is therefore, necessary that adequate thought should be given for improving our infrastructure utilization with the help of e-convergence and other modern state-of-the-art technologies.

Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers has a crucial role to play in terms of spreading knowledge and awareness regarding warning of disaster and decision-making. This paper is purely for discussion in the IETE-Apex Forum for generating ideas in this direction. The amazing developments of telecom, broadcasting, IT, electronics, software and other related areas have provided tools for monitoring, observation, communication, broadcasting and for decision support system. Current technological developments towards convergence will go a long way towards disaster management system at all level and for all concerned. IETE can and should provide policy focus towards disaster management taking help of e-convergence and other technological areas like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Super computing, bio-sensing, internet enabled services; it can use its wings for spread of awareness, to focus towards calamity prevention, mitigation of sufferings and relief. Some of the vital items to take care of disaster management are listed below:-