With help a tweet away, BMC gets fewer distress calls

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) proactive social media approach is bearing fruit this monsoon. The distress calls received by its disaster management unit has seen a drop of 68%, mostly because of its Twitter updates, claimed the civic body.

Last year, BMC received 4,306 calls from citizens on August 29 and 30, as the city had received unprecedented rainfall at 300mm and claimed lives of 14 citizens, with 12 going missing.

This year on July 9 and 10, when the city received more than half its average annual rainfall, BMC received 1,360 calls — a 68% drop compared to last year.

“The drop is because of our Twitter activity. Our aim is to reach out to masses to update and alert them during the monsoon. Twitter has been most effective for traffic diversion updates,” said Mahesh Narvekar, chief officer, BMC’S disaster management unit.

Until a couple of years back, the only update on the civic body’s @Disastermgmtmum twitter handle was during high tide days and on rainfall data, which was highly ineffective

and criticised by citizens. The civic body’s awareness program only included posters at its ward offices, hospitals and markets, and talks in schools.

Leveraging the increase in smartphone users, BMC, which until last year was struggling to run its Twitter account, is now reaching a wider audience.

BMC, in June, also released a two-minute documentary on leptospirosis through its Twitter handle which currently has more than 37,000 followers.