How to deploy disaster mitigation information: NOT

The list of links below are the Uttarakhand Disaster Mitigation and Management Center home page and the links listed on that page. Clicking through the links does not take you to web pages, however, they take you to (proprietarily formatted, the standard offered by a well-known US based software vendor) documents. This sort of thing does happen on older government managed web sites, but this is a very new web site, not one plagued by a legacy of inefficiency and inability to change. The favicon on the link indicates the site is maintained by NIC, and I do hope that someone from that organisation finds it helpful to read the mail on this list. If not, anybody with contacts there may kindly forward this mail for action. If necessary, with a reminder about GoI policy on ensuring GoI material is presented in an openly accessible manner. And about avoiding unnecessary waste of public resources.

I clicked on the link to the site manager, and here is the information on the linked page:
Web Information Manager
Name: Bhupendra Bhaisora

Designation: Manager DMMC
Phono No: 0135-2710233
Mobile: 9458974556

Email:[email protected]

Apparently Mr Bhaisora does not find the NIC email service relevant enough for his work. Or perhaps NIC does not find him relevant. Who knows? Perhaps somebody in UK (Uttarakhand, obviously) can phono (sic) him and find out.

The third link below, the roads currently open, is crucial information for any rescue service, as well as for trapped people who may have web access (most unlikely, after so many days, and the complete lack of any visible effort across India to establish an emergency telecom system for such eventualities), but don't know which way to get out. 

Unfortunately, I could not read this document, as it is presented in some uncommon font (I assume it is probably some Devanagari font, but I have the popular ones, and this is not amongst them). Without more information, I cannot decide what resource I might need to read this page. Or the other pages, which have the same problem. 

Please note, however, the title of the fourth link, Google Person Finder : 2013 Uttarakhand Cloud burst, which is, as most people know, a free voluntary service offered by the US company. So the link must be to a Google-owned web site, correct? Wrong. It is to another formatted document, this one in English, which proudly explains (after it is pointlessly downloaded) what the service offers, and *that* is where the link is presented. In a 3 (!) page document, totaling about 50 words. The 6th is as silly, because the weather update service is in fact offered by an Indian government service, and there really can be no point at all to not simply presenting the link directly, instead of playing silly games with more pages, more documents, and more waste of time, money and resources. 

Apparently a course on basic web usage and design might be necessary for the NIC web designing staff (hint: it is called 'content management system'. Many free CMS' make it simple to update such sites, not just every day, but continuously. Some allow security holes to be inserted in web sites as well, but the judicious use of safeguards help guard against the obvious risks). And a little help is needed by the DMMC people as well, to rescue them from this disaster. As the listmember who pointed me towards this site exclaimed, "God help the poor sods out there". Yes. Because the good folks at DMMC web site aren't helping. 

The callousness of the site operators, in deliberately presenting useful information in the most complicated, obscure and frankly immature manner, deserves some serious answers. 

Here is the list of links, and please don't fall on the floor laughing, or throwing up in disgust.

Relief Measures http://dmmc.uk.gov.in/contents/listing/1

Police and Army help line numbers
State wise help Line Numbers
Latest Road conditions in affected areas
Weather Forecast
Google Person Finder : 2013 Uttarakhand Cloud burst
Latest rescued persons list from Harshil and Guptkashi
Latest Weather Forecast Information
Rescued Persons list by Disaster Management Team Uk

Vickram
communicall.wordpress.com
Yahoo! Mail on Android

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