The first batch of the Disaster Management course, which will commence in 2010, will have officials from the BMC, fire brigade and policemen going back to the classroom again.

Ten months after the BMC and the Mumbai University jointly proposed first-of-its-kind Diploma in Disaster Management course, the officials will take lessons to improve their disaster preparedness. A panel of lecturers from the university’s departments of geography and psychology, along with officials from the disaster management cell of the BMC, has jointly formulated the syllabus of the year-long post graduate course.

“The first few batches will comprise of personnel who work the most at the time of a disaster in the city. After the few batches, the course will be open to anyone with graduation,” S.S Shinde, deputy municipal commissioner (disaster management) said.

The course will be affiliated to Mumbai University and will be conducted at the BMC’s City Institute of Disaster Management at Parel. The intake capacity will be of 40 students. “We are expecting experts from both India and abroad who will comprise faculty at the institute,” Shinde added.

The course will deal with 35 types of natural and manmade disasters as defined by the central government’s National Disaster Management Academy (NDMA). It will have six papers with specialized subjects like Urban Disaster Management that will deal with disasters specific to cities. “Terror preparedness is one of the key subject that the course will cover,” Mahesh Narvekar, deputy chief officer of BMC’s disaster management cell said.

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