The Centre has said that the Kerala floods were a “calamity of severe nature for all practical purposes”, keeping in view the intensity and magnitude of the floods and landslides.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the Kerala floods were being treated as natural calamity of severe nature but there was nothing to declare it as one.
“When the situation becomes unprecedented and extremely difficult to handle in a normal rescue and relief operation we treat it that way [as natural calamity of severe nature]. And in Kerala we have already treated it as one,” Mr. Rijiju told The Hindu .
A letter dated August 16 sent by the Disaster Management division of the Union Home Ministry to the Rajya Sabha secretariat said the same. “It is to inform that as per information received from the State Government of Kerala, 247 human lives have been reported lost and 17,343 houses/huts have been reported damaged due to the floods/landslides in the State during south-west monsoon 2018. Keeping in view of the intensity and magnitude of floods /landslides in Kerala, this is a calamity of a severe nature for all practical purposes,” the MHA letter said.
Another official said an inter-ministerial team led by Mr. Rijiju visited Kerala to assess the situation and it is only done in circumstances when the natural calamity is of severe nature.
Meanwhile, the National Crisis Management Committee met for the fifth time to review the rescue and relief operations in the flood-affected areas in Kerala.
