Recognizing the necessity of conducting and continuously updating HVRA in the state, the GoI-UNDP Disaster Risk Reduction Programme in collaboration with the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management conducted a consultation workshop on 4-5 October 2010. Based on the conclusions and recommendations of this national workshop, the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management in consultation with the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment created the HVRA Cell as the research and technical laboratory of KSDMA under the scientific supervision of the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) in April 2011. The Cell became fully operational in March 2012.

On 20 January 2014 the Government converted HVRA Cell as the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC). The SEOC is also the research and technology laboratory of the SDMA and directly functions under the Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue & Disaster Management. All administrative matters related to the SEOC are made by the State Executive Committee of KSDMA. Its day-to-day affairs are managed by Head, State Emergency Operations Centre.

It is also the State Drought Monitoring Cell [GO (Rt) No. 7228/2012/DMD dated 24/12/2012]. It is staffed with a multi-disciplinary scientific team, spread over 14 districts. The SEOC implements a number of research and data collection projects and is also entrusted with the preparation of the State and District Disaster Management Plans. It also manages various capacity building projects. The SEOC is permitted to collect any data from any Government Institution in the state on a no cost basis [GO (Rt) No. 3250/2011/DMD dated 29/07/2011].

The functions of SEOC are: facilitate the updation of the HVRA of the State, prepare the State and District Disaster Management Plans, support the implementation of the early warning systems by Central Agencies as laid in the National Disaster Management Plan, undertake research projects and investigation reports on  topics relevant to disaster risk reduction, foster research collaboration with external agencies, emergency coordination, preparation of calamity memoranda, prepare/support Post Disaster Need Assessments, prepare Orange Books of Disaster Management, Standard Operating Procedures and Guidelines. All technical staff works under SEOC. The SEOC has the following entities: Fusion Centre, Drought Monitoring Cell, GIS Lab, IT & Communication Centre, Planning Group, Capacity Building and Projects Group and Administration. In times of emergency, all staff members of each of these groups are drafted into the Fusion Centre for emergency management.

  • Fusion Centre: Facilitates inter-departmental operations and fusion of multiple information in a single location. Desk in-charges and departmental officers deputed to SEOC works out of fusion centre. In effect, Fusion Centre is the heart of SEOC
  • Drought Monitoring Cell: The Drought Monitoring Cell examines the various triggers laid by Government of India for drought response triggering and advices the Government on drought management guidelines to be issued after examining the conditions prevailing in the State from time to time. There is no separate staff for Drought Monitoring Cell
  • IT & Communication Centre: The Early Warning Dissemination System, the Server, the internal communication system, etc. deployed by the SEOC and NCRMP will be under the IT & Communication Centre. Long term maintenance and management of the system will also be the responsibility of the IT & Communication Centre.
  • Planning: The Planning Department will be leading the preparation of the State Disaster Management Plan. They will also support requests from the Districts for the preparation and updation of the District Disaster Management Plans.
  • Capacity Building and Projects: This team will coordinate in implementing social outreach projects and capacity building programmes prepared by KSDMA
  • Risk Lab: Deals with managing the geodatabase of SEOC and supports the preparation of State and District Disaster Management Plans and EOCs with Geospatial information and analysis