Following the Mumbai terror attacks, of November 26, 2008, CSTEP initiated a project on emergency and disaster management in coordination with CAIR (Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics). The primary goal was to develop a platform to train personnel amongst various responding agencies for collective decision-making. It was evident from the terror episode that effective coordination between multiple agencies was essential to minimise the damage caused by such incidents.

CSTEP envisioned the development of a platform that would help model the scale and scope of disasters, and help refine procedures for institutional arrangements, resources and asset management. The platform is a virtual environment in which one can test and evaluate different institutional arrangements, procedures, and policies.