Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to support Kerala with financial assistance for the rehabilitation of the landslide-affected in Wayanad and for taking on the stiff challenges posed by climate change.
Mr. Vijayan, who accompanied Mr. Modi during the latter’s visit to the landslide-hit regions in Wayanad on Saturday, said he had handed over a note to the Prime Minister on the State’s requirements. Mr. Vijayan also reiterated the State’s demand that the July 30 Wayanad landslides be declared a national disaster and a disaster of severe nature, given the magnitude of the catastrophe and the extent of losses.
Detailed assessment of the losses are under way. Preliminary surveys point to losses running into “thousands of crores,” Mr. Vijayan said. The State government will submit a detailed representation regarding the landslide disaster in due course, he added.
Mr. Vijayan also urged the Prime Minister to open ‘special centres’ and fully-equipped regional offices of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Centre of Seismology (NSC) and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), given the threats faced by Kerala on account of global warming and climate change.
Forecasting mechanism
Kerala urgently needs such facilities to tackle contingencies and natural calamities triggered by climate change, he said. There is also a need to have cutting-edge weather forecasting mechanisms in place in the State, he added.
Mr. Vijayan also sought financial and technical support for the Institute of Climate Change Studies, which the State government opened in Kottayam in 2015, and the Kerala Climate Change Adaptation Mission.
