The Hindu : Kerala News : Kerala asked to submit project for cyclone preparedness

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Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
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Kerala asked to submit project for cyclone preparedness

Special Correspondent

Mullapally: proposal for a Rs. 166-crore project not enough

Tells Kerala to submit Rs. 400-cr. project to Centre
Steps on to identify location for new battalion for NDRF

Thiruvananthapuram: 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.

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