Disaster management plan for city to be ready soon

Will have a list of low-lying areas, dilapidated buildings, ham radios

May 15, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:33 am IST - CHENNAI:

WELL PREPARED?:Is the city geared up to meet the challenges in the event of a natural disaster on a large scale?Photo: K.V.Srinivasan.

WELL PREPARED?:Is the city geared up to meet the challenges in the event of a natural disaster on a large scale?Photo: K.V.Srinivasan.

A disaster management plan for the city is in the works, following alarm over a series of earthquakes that have recently occurred in Nepal, and the tremors felt in various parts of the country, including here.

The Commissionerate of Revenue Administration in association with Chennai Corporation and Chennai district collectorate will work together on this, according to sources.

Chennai is yet to have a comprehensive disaster management plan, which includes predefined roles and responsibilities with specific tasks for each official. The disaster management plan will include detailed mapping of safest escape routes and resources for facilitating rescue and relief operations. The lack of a disaster management plan has previously led to a delay in relief and rescue work after major disasters such as tsunami and flood in the city.

“We will start collecting data on resources at the ward level. The work will be completed by June,” said an official.

Chennai Corporation has 200 wards covering an area of 426 sq km. “Ward level mapping was done after the tsunami. Some of the earlier works pertaining to mapping for disaster preparedness are not relevant after the boundaries of wards and zones changed following expansion of the city,” said N.Mathavan, a disaster management expert who worked on the resilience index for the city.

A Climate Disaster Resilience Index prepared for Chennai based on the data collected on five elements — physical, social, economic, institutional and natural — for ten old zones of the Corporation has to be revised for the 15 existing zones.

There is also a need for integrating other local bodies on the outskirts in the disaster management plan. According to a previous study, the coastline from Ennore to Kasimedu Fishing Harbour was found to be safer. The coastline from Cooum River to Kovalam creek was more vulnerable to disasters such as a tsunami.

The plan for disaster management will have a list of low lying areas, slums, persons with disability, senior citizens, pregnant ladies, cooks, electricians, power cutting tools, ham radios, dilapidated buildings, hospitals and schools.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.