The government is facing a funds crunch to rebuild the State after natural calamities wreaked havoc in two consecutive years, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said.
The Minister was speaking at the valedictory ceremony of ‘America with Kerala’, a three-day workshop on disaster management organised by the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai and Centre for Public Policy Research, Kochi, in association with the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority on Thursday.
“We suffered damage worth ₹31,000 crore after the 2018 floods. Our wish is to build a modern Kerala — technologically, culturally and spiritually. However, money is a problem. We could manage to collect only below ₹10,000 crore so far,” she said. Ms. Shylaja said that the government was trying to get help from companies who have offered to donate funds from their Corporate Social Responsibility pool and many other individuals. She pointed out that many organisations and individuals were building houses for flood victims.
The Minister said that in the wake of the floods happening in the State again this year, focus should be on building a natural calamity-resilient society. The effort should be to devise the technology for the purpose, Ms. Shylaja said. “Floods may happen next year too. We need to see how we can withstand it. Houses should be resilient to disasters. Some suggestions are coming and we are implementing them,” she said. The Minister said that health workers in the State were being trained in basic life support skills and rescue and rehabilitation. Lauren Lovelace, Consul for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. Consulate General, Chennai, said, “We saw parallels in the way the United States and Kerala experienced natural disasters and felt there were lessons that both the U.S. and Kerala could share.” M.K. Muneer, MLA, Kozhikode South, was present.
The focus group discussion on the final day of the workshop deliberated on developing a community resource guide for disasters, which will have information on local emergency response agencies, health facilities and other guidelines that come handy during a disaster. Samantha L. Montano, Assistant Professor, Emergency Management and Disaster Science, University of Nebraska Omaha and Janaki Andheria, Dean, Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies, shared the U.S. and Indian expertise at the workshops.
