The six-member Central team, which is on a visit to Chennai and nearby districts to assess Cyclone Michaung-induced damage, on Wednesday highlighted the need for larger mitigation programmes for Chennai.
The team, divided into two groups, visited places such as Ambattur, Korattur, Red Hills reservoir, Cholavaram lake, Avadi, Ponneri, Tambaram, Varadarajapuram, Pillaipakkam, Kundrathur, Mangadu, Poonamallee and Tiruverkadu on Wednesday.
Addressing the media during the visit, Kunal Satyarthi, advisor (policy and plan), National Disaster Management Authority, who is heading the team, said with extreme weather events such as Cyclone Michaung, the State government should have a long-term strategy to ensure that the impact of such events was minimal for the public. Though it was not the mandate of the team now, he said they were looking at what could be these long-term strategies.
Pointing out that Chennai had survived many cyclones and intense rainfall while being only two to six metres above the sea level, he said that besides focus on urban planning, the large number of waterbodies in the city should be “left to live” for taking in the water during such events.
He reiterated the team’s observations made on Tuesday that the capacity building and preparedness of the State government were good. The people the team interacted with said that though the impact was bad, the response from the government was good.
The team will meet Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and apprise him of their findings on Thursday before leaving for Delhi.
He further said that a report would be submitted once all the data and information from the field visits were ready. Officials from Water Resources Department said the Central team was briefed about the damage caused to parapet wall over the bund of Red Hills lake and the compound wall that suffered the brunt of cyclone and the bund that was restored in Cholavaram lake.
The team members were also explained about causeways across Kosasthalaiyar river, which were washed away or damaged during the torrential downpour in Tiruvallur district.
