The Hindu Business Line : Kerala working on disaster management policy

THE State Government is going ahead with a proposal to put together a disaster management policy and a Disaster Management Act so that calamity management and response mechanism get a leg-up.

Inaugurating a two-day workshop on Urban Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction organised here by the Institute of Land Management under the UNDP Disaster Risk Management Programme, the Revenue Minister, Mr K.M. Mani, said the State Government had also formed a Disaster Management Authority under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary.

Lack of sufficient equipment in disaster rescue and relief operations is often the main reason for delayed response. As per the revised norms for disbursals from the Calamity Relief Fund, 10 per cent of the allocation of the year can be expended for the procurement of essential search and rescue equipment.

The State Government is now proposing to procure search, rescue and evacuation equipment, including communication equipment, to strengthen district control rooms, Mr Mani said.

Another important initiative is to set up a Web-based computer network of resources needed for disaster management as per guidelines prescribed by the Centre. The database will be prepared with the help of State Government and district administrations. All information on resources, including skilled manpower, equipment required for rescue and relief activity and the details of contact addresses, will be made available on the Web site.

The State Government has constituted five sub-committees to prepare disaster management plans with respect to water and climate related (flood, cyclones), geological (earthquakes, landslides), chemical, industrial, nuclear and biological (pest attack, epidemics) and manmade disasters (accident, environmental calamities, hooch tragedies). The respective reports would be finalised soon.

Considering the need for awareness amongst school children, the State Government is also considering the proposal to include disaster management in the school curriculum. It has been recently included in the CBSE syllabus.

Kerala has been identified as one among the `multi-hazard prone' States of India. The Urban Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction (UEVR) programme is being implemented in the State as a joint venture with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the UNDP. This follows the realisation that Kerala is situated in the moderate earthquake risk zone, i.e. Zone III.

Experts have predicted that the State is prone to earthquakes of up to a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale.

More Stories on : Natural Calamities | Kerala

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