GUWAHATI: Revenue and disaster management minister Kyrmen Shylla has said the department was contemplating a tie-up with the North Eastern Space Application Centre at Umiam to set up a disaster early warning system in the state.
“It will be good if we can associate with NESAC in regard to an early warning system. We have to see if we can find a solution in regard to mitigating disasters, which will be really helpful,” Shylla told The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
NESAC has since 2012 been implementing the Flood Early Warning System in association with the Assam State Disaster Management Authority.
The objective of the initiative, which was piloted in two districts initially and currently applicable across 33 districts in Assam, is to develop a location-specific early warning system which could help the administration in taking precautionary measures and issue flood alerts.
NESAC, for its part, is in the process of implementing similar initiatives in at least four other northeastern states.
“We have started the process to set up disaster early warning systems in states such as Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura,” NESAC director PLN Raju informed this correspondent.
An early warning system comprises four elements — risk knowledge, monitoring and warning services, disseminations and communication and response capability.
The Meghalaya disaster management department in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority is also implementing the project on ‘Strengthening of State Disaster Management Authority and District Disaster Management Authority’ from this month.
“The scheme aims at improving the effectiveness of State Disaster Management Authority and selected District Disaster Management Authority by providing finances for dedicated human resources to be hired by State Disaster Management Authority/District Disaster Management Authority,” Shylla had announced in the Assembly session recently.
Underlining the importance of a disaster plan, the minister said training on early warning system apart from seismic safety assessment of buildings, retrofitting and mock drills among others would be undertaken periodically.
Meghalaya is vulnerable to seismic disturbances as it falls under Zone V. Experts have in the past advocated the usefulness of an early warning system in regard to taking precautions against disasters such as earthquakes and thunderstorms in the state.
On the pending dues to natural calamity victims in the state, Shylla said he had placed a demand for grants of Rs 15.4 lakh in the Assembly in this regard.
