Nellore and Khammam have been chosen for an intensive command system (ICS) project as India disaster management support scheme. While Nellore often bears the brunt of cyclones, Khammam is flood-prone. The ICS project officer, Mr M. Bhaskar Rao, disclosed the decision to choose the two districts while talking to this newspaper on the sidelines of a workshop conducted at Nellore to train district officials on Wednesday. Under the project, special teams will be formed in Nellore and Khammam with officials who are experienced in disaster management. Simulation exercises will be conducted for the teams in Nellore and Khammam under the auspices of National Disaster Management Force located in Chennai. Mr Govind Singh, DIG of Greyhounds, also stressed the need for a unified command with common action plan to handle disasters. While speaking in the workshop, he recalled his experience during the Delta Express disaster at Varigonda three years back. Mr Singh pointed out that there was much confusion because forces from army, police and para-military were acting on their own in the absence of a unified command. Though everybody was trying to save the people, there was no coordination, he said. In ICS, there will be an information officer who would coordinate with all the agencies involved in rescue operations and disseminate information not only to other wings but also to the family members of the victims. Mr Indrajit Pal, associate professor of the Centre for Disaster Management in the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration of Mussoorie, said that two districts in AP and few more in Assam have been sele-cted for the pilot project. Depending on the success of the project in these locations, it will be extended to other places prone to calamities, he noted. The ICS concept was developed in USA and implemented for the first time in three districts in Gujarat in 2003, said Mr Indrajit Pal. Officials from revenue, fisheries and planning department took part in the three-day workshop which concluded on Wednesday.