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Deloitte releases National Wireless Security Survey

Blaze at Bhiwandi Godown

Initiative to spread awareness on Security Issues Launched

The police and the fire brigade officials with the assistance of Eureka Forbes personnel will visit residential complexes and spread awareness about how alertness among the people can help curb terrorism, counter crime and control domestic accidents.

New flood-alert system in North-East India soon

A new flood monitoring system will come up along the Brahmaputra basin in the North-East India to plan and execute efficient emergency response measures. It aims at a new ‘object-oriented strategy’ to accomplish ‘near-real time’ flood monitoring in the Brahmaputra basin with the help of microwave remote sensing system.

The project executed by the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) is a centrally funded project. Yogesh Singh, project leader of CDAC, said “The new system is expected to provide timely information up to the block-level at villages and help reduce, manage and control the increasing extent of the disaster. The information would be provided within 24 hours of any rise in water level”.

Full Article: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090219/nation.htm#14

Disclaimer: This article is based on facts and data compiled from news reports and sources published at the time of writing. bcm-india.org does not hold itself responsible for any innacuracies in published facts or data.

The fire department of Mumbai is soon going to get disaster management software (DMC) system installed. The software will  provide a database of all the information regarding the availability of physical infrastructure  including the number and capacity of water bodies, the number of building high rises or not and number and locations of hospitals and schools in the area.

PD Karguppikar, chief fire officer, said that with this software, all information about the place and resources will be one click away.

The disaster management software, a result of  Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Systems Applications and Products (SAP) initiatives , costs Rs one crore.

Full Article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai/Fire_dept_is_set_to_get_a_disaster...cms

Disclaimer: This article is based on facts and data compiled from news reports and sources published at the time of writing. bcm-india.org does not hold itself responsible for any innacuracies in published facts or data.

Infosys BPO recognized at the Asia Business Continuity Awards 2008

Jaipur: The fire at the Indian Oil depot in Jaipur, which started on October 29, is slowly abating and the area around 700-800 meters away from the site will be open for the factory owners to assess losses, District Magistrate of Jaipur Kuldeep Ranka said on Monday.

Fire in four tankers of Indian Oil Depots is still there. Fire has come down to large extent in two tankers of diesel, but fire is still raging in two tankers of petrol. The main decision, which was taken yesterday, was to open the area around 700-800 meters away from the fire site, Ranka said.

The area where there is less public movement, the Sitapura industrial area SEZ Phase I and SEZ Phase II is open for the factory owners, so that they can go and assess the damage and also decide when to restart work, he added.

As Rs 500 crore worth of fuel burned through the second day of the Jaipur inferno, there were two questions no one had answered satisfactorily. How did it happen? And how many had died in the blaze that started with a blast on Thursday evening?

Although officials have confirmed five deaths, six others present at the site at the time of the fire are feared dead. Five bodies have been recovered but the IOC employees are still untraced. Many more are critical in the city's hospitals.

But experts were unanimous: the incident happened due to human negligence. There were other who said timely action could have prevented the scale of damage. ``There were alarms, and the smell of oil. That should have been enough to warn officials. They should have acted instantly. But it seems they took it easy and let things go out of control,'' said an expert from Jamnagar.

``We had heard the wails of a siren on the IOC premises hours before the fire and the blast. The entire area smelled of oil. Why is it then that preventive measures were not taken in time?'' said Mohammed Zabbal, who works at Genus, a factory near the IOC depot. His factory was gutted and he sustained splinter injuries and is now admitted at Sawai Man Singh Hospital.

On Thursday, IOC officials said that based on preliminary reports the fire broke out after a pipeline valve failed when petrol was being transferred from the IOC terminal to Bharat Petroleum's terminal just a little distance away.

While officials stuck to the leak theory, they found it difficult to pinpoint what provided the spark. Some suggested that the power which had been cut off at around 4.30 pm following reports of a gas leak from the depot was switched on again around 7.30 pm, before they had received the all-clear. Some others suggested that a minor earthquake triggered the blaze.

Starting late on the night of November 26, 2008 and continuing in a series of hostage standoffs well into the morning of November 29, 2008, terrorists struck at the heart of Mumbai leaving hundreds dead or injured and people still shocked and outraged weeks later.

The attack were conducted by a ten-man group of terorists who infiltrated Mumbai through Colaba jettys using inflatable boats.  They had earlier hijacked an Indian fishing vessel which they directed to a position just offshore.

Two terrorists terrorists entered Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivaji railway station and opened fire, killing atleast 30 people. They then moved to Cama Hospital and opened fire there. After a heated chase, one terrorist was killed and another arrested by Mumbai police. A notable casualty was the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) Chief Hemant Karkare.

The remaining terrorists split up and seized three buildings: the landmark Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba, the Oberoi Trident and Nariman House.  Many guests and diners at both hotels were killed and more were taken hostage.  In a display of bravery and resourcefullness, hotel staff were instrumental in the evacuation of a number of people even as the terrorists were in the buildings.

The standoff in all three buildings lasts until the morning of the 29th, by when NSG commandos are able to clear the buildings.

The attacks left a wave of outrage in their wake, both at the perpetrators as well as the Indian political class, which the general public feel are partially to blame.  The media too has come under fire from certain sections.

Notable casualties of the 3 days of terror include Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan of the National Security Guards, Hemant Karkare, Chief of the ATS,  Ashook Kamte - Additional Commissioner of Police and Mumbai encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar.

Between 6:00 and 6:30 PM on Saturday, September 13, 2008, 5 blasts struck New Delhi's busy markets leaving over 30 dead and 90 injured.

In all, five bombs went off in less than half an hour. Two of them in the heart of Delhi in Connaught Place, two at the upscale Greater Kailash M Block market in south Delhi, and one, the most damaging one, in the crowded Ghaffar Market in Karol Bagh. Three more bombs were defused, one of them at the popular Children's Park in India Gate, indicating the depraved mind of the terrorists.

The first blast took place at Ghaffar Market at 6.10 pm. Soon after that, two explosions rocked Connaught Place, one at Barakambha Road near Gopaldas Building at 6.30 pm and the other near the Metro station at the Central Park at 6.31 pm. Almost simultaneously, a blast hit M-block market in Greater Kailash-I near McDonald's and seven minutes later another bomb went off near Prince Pan Corner in the same market.

Three unexploded bombs were found later taking the total number of bombs to 8. The first was found near India Gate inside a dustbin at the Children's Park and one was defused at Regal Cinema Hall which was lying on the road, while another one was found at Central Park, again inside a dustbin. A National Security Guard (NSG) team defused the bombs after they were informed by the witnesses about unclaimed objects. NSG experts were assessing the situation and nature of explosives used.

Disclaimer: This article is based on facts and data compiled from multiple news reports and sources published at the time of writing. bcm-india.org does not hold itself responsible for any innacuracies in published facts or data.

India had barely recovered from the news of the serial blasts in Bangalore the previous afetrnoon, when sixteen blasts in Ahemdabad's eastern districts struck in rapid succession on Saturday evening, hitting busy markets, streets and worst of all, hospitals in the space of just one hour.

With a similiar Modus Operandi to those seen the previous day ini Bangalore, the bombs, fashioned from ammonium nitrate and packed with ball bearings to maximise their destructive power, were strapped to bicycles and motorbikes. Some were hidden under the seats of crowded public buses - and all were detonated with timers at carefully staggered intervals.

Some of the bombs were even placed to exploit the resultant chaos. Bombs were placed outside nearby hospitals and set to detonate a little after the initial explosions, targeting the wounded and their loved ones to deadly effect.

A little-known group styling itself the "Indian Mujahideen" claimed responsibility for the bombings in an email sent to local television channels minutes before the first explosion at around 6.30pm yesterday. This message declared that the attack was retribution for the killings of Muslims in 2002. 

Disclaimer: This article is based on facts and data compiled from multiple news reports and sources published at the time of writing. bcm-india.org does not hold itself responsible for any innacuracies in published facts or data.

There's a certain inevitability about it. It's now almost a pattern that terrorists strike even before the nation recovers from its last shock, to leave it traumatized again.

The target this time was Bangalore, the country's IT capital, which has been in the terror shadow for long. The city became a target of eight serial blasts on Friday, leaving one dead, and eight injured. The bombs were of low intensity, aimed more at dislocating economic activity than killing hundreds of people.

The blasts ocurred over the course of a short time period of barely 35 minutes between 1:40 PM and 2:15 PM. As news of the blasts travelled, there was some amount of panic and commotion on the streets. Phone lines (both landline and mobile phone) were jammed due to the large quantity of traffic. Some cinema halls, schools and businesses closed for the days and sent people home. Most business continued to function and stayed in constant contact with the Bangalore police. By around 6:00 PM, the situation had returned to normal and most people were able to return home at their normal time.

Another bomb was found early saturday morning in the popular and crowded Forum Mall. It was discovered by patrolling security staff and defused by the Police.  

Disclaimer: This article is based on facts and data compiled from multiple news reports and sources published at the time of writing. bcm-india.org does not hold itself responsible for any innacuracies in published facts or data.

Disclaimer: This article is based on facts and data compiled from multiple news reports and sources published at the time of writing. bcm-india.org does not hold itself responsible for any innacuracies in published facts or data.

The epicentre of the tremor was near Muzaffarabad in PoK, some 95 km northeast of Islamabad and 115 km northwest of Srinagar . In India , the main tremor was felt in north and west India - Jammu and Kashmir , Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Delhi and Gujarat .

Disclaimer: This article is based on facts and data compiled from multiple news reports and sources published at the time of writing. bcm-india.org does not hold itself responsible for any innacuracies in published facts or data.

 Training Announcement: Understanding BCM Principles and Good Practice

 Our Mumbai Our Responsibility

 The BCI C&R Awards 2009

 Business Continuity Institute Training by Deloitte

1st Physical Security Risk Management Conference and Workshop held in Mumbai