Centre of excellence in emergency support system to be opened in NIT-T

A Centre of Excellence in Emergency Response Support System (CoEERSS) will be inaugurated at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi (NIT-T) on January 10.

CoEERSS is the first research centre established jointly by NIT-T and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Thiruvananthapuram.

The Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) with a single Emergency Number, 112, was launched by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to respond to emergency situations faced by citizens. ERSS is designed to address various emergencies reported through different communication channels such as voice calls, SMS, e-mail, SOS signals, ERSS web portal, social media etc.

ERSS-112 will track the rescue and service vehicles of all services (including Police, Fire and Rescue, Health etc.) in real-time on a digital map of the State/UT and direct the right vehicle to reach the person in emergency situation and render necessary support quickly.

Citizens may easily seek help of the ‘Public Safety Access Point’ (PSAP) in the capitals of the State by dialling 112, sending SMS to 112, tapping SoS in 112 India App, e-mail or WhatsApp to the designated numbers. Officers attending the calls would be able to see the caller’s details and location on a computer and quickly respond to critical emergencies through District Coordination Centres (DCC).

Dispatchers sitting in the districts would send the nearest emergency rescue units to attend to the emergency on priority. The PSAP / DCC would continuously monitor the situation on the digital map. ERSS-112 will be connected to disaster management, Railways, women and child helplines, a press release from NIT-T said.

C-DAC has recently signed an MoU with NIT-T for collaborative works on advanced research areas, by setting up a Centre of Excellence in the campus of NIT-T. The research work focuses on delivering specific value-additions to ERSS-112 to make it more powerful and intelligent.

The CoEERSS would be inaugurated by C. Sylendra Babu, Director General of Police, in the presence of G. Aghila, Director, NIT-T, E.Magesh, Director General, C-DAC, and Kalai Selvan, Director, C-DAC, Thiruvananthapuram.

N. Sivakumaran, Professor, Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering will head the CoEERSS and its team comprising T.K.Radhakrishnan, K. Srinivasan, Sishaj P. Simon, M.Venkata Kirthiga, M.Brindha, B.Janet, Rebekka, P.A. Karthick, Usha Kiruthika and R.Sriram Shankar, the release said.