The course, which was thought of in 2009, was in the cold storage for close to seven years, with the corporation and varsity working their way in its structure and syllabus.
The long-delayed disaster management course proposed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in aegis with the Mumbai university (MU), is set to be launched this July-end.
The course, which was thought of in 2009, was in the cold storage for close to seven years, with the corporation and varsity working their way in its structure and syllabus.
In the primary stages, the course was jointly proposed to be a postgraduate diploma (PGD) in disaster management. However, realising that a PGD would undermine the value of the course, it was revised to its new form — MBA — in January 2016.
Spread over three years, availing both theoretical and practical training lessons, the course will be conducted at the disaster management cell's new facility — City Institute of Disaster Management (CIDM) — in Parel. The course will be run with the support of the Garware Institute of Career Education and Development.
Around 40 students will study an array of subjects — introduction to disasters, mitigation and planning, and coordination and communication, amongst others. Students will also study 35 types of natural and man-made disasters outlined by the union ministry's National Disaster Management Academy. The course will feature six papers with specialised topics.
"The syllabus is currently being finalised by lecturers from various departments of the university along with the disaster management cell of the BMC, who are also going to conduct the lectures for the students," said joint municipal commissioner SS Shinde.
He added that the first batches will comprise civic officials — firemen, disaster management officials and policemen, among others.
"We will evaluate the success of this batch and then later open the course for graduates from all streams," he said, while highlighting that for the first time ever, a special course, run by the civic body, will be affiliated to the MU.
The BMC is yet to finalise on the course fee structure, which will be decided at a meeting next week with university officials.
A senior BMC official said that in order to present a live feel of disasters, the civic body has started work in the CIDM to install an earthquake stimulator, to recreate earthquake measuring 1-10 on the Richter scale.
"Talks are also on with some government agencies to avail their facilities to stage disaster scenarios, like floods and tsunami waves, to conduct rescue operations and training," he added.
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