By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government will depute a team of government officials involved in providing training on disaster management to Sikkim to assess the impact of the recent earthquake which has left a trail of death and destruction in the state.
“The officials will assess the impact of the earthquake in Sikkim. This visit will help them gain valuable experience on how to deal with such similar natural disasters if the State is ever affected,” Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma said after a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) on Wednesday.
According to the Chief Minister, the officials engaged in disaster management training would gain lessons on mental preparedness from the visit, since the State falls in an active seismic zone and is prone to earthquakes.
“The State Government is creating the Disaster Mitigation Fund and the Disaster Response Fund to ensure uninterrupted fund flow for various activities relating to training on disaster management which would be conducted by various disaster management groups in the State,” Dr Sangma said.
He also said that the Government had an internal mechanism whereby master trainers would be conducting trainings at the district-, block- and village-level to deal with any eventuality in the face of natural disasters.
“The State Government will coordinate with various Central agencies to set up an early warning signal system to forewarn people against impending natural calamities in the State.
“The North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) has been selected as the independent monitoring agency for the State and it is currently on the job to evaluate and analyze the various risk factors in case of any natural calamity. NESAC would identify vulnerable areas in the State and come up with recommendations,” the Chief Minister stated.