Kerala asked to submit project for cyclone preparedness

Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran has asked the
Kerala government to submit a Rs.400-crore project to the Centre for
assistance to improve preparedness for cyclones.
Delivering the inaugural address at a National Consultation on
Disaster Management here on Tuesday, he called upon the State
government to submit a detailed project report under the National
Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project. Mr. Ramachandran said the earlier
proposal for a Rs.166 crore project was grossly inadequate to equip
the State for cyclones.He urged the government to seek technical
assistance from scientific institutions like the Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore, National Institute of Technology, Kozhikode, and
the Government College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, for
geo-technical investigation and micro-zonation of districts vulnerable
to natural disasters.Steps should be taken for documentation of
traditional best practices in disaster management.The Minister said
efforts were on to identify a location in Kerala for a new battalion
to be raised for the National Disaster Response Force .
Paradigm shift
He said the constitution of the National Disaster Management Authority
and its State-level units had resulted in a paradigm shift from
post-disaster relief and rehabilitation to prevention, mitigation and
preparedness.

The Hindu, July 1