Tsunami mock drill in nine AP villages

Officials of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Sciences (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences, will conduct mock drill in coastal villages to create awareness among the public on tsunami.

Mock operation will be organised in nine seacoast villages in coastal districts in Andhra Pradesh on 26 of this month, said Revenue and Disaster Mitigation Chief Secretary J. C. Sharma.

At a workshop organised here on Friday on ‘Tsunami Preparedness’, the INCOIS officials said that tsunami will hit the India territory two hours after tsunami warning is given in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. To prevent human and animal loss, officials and the villagers should have knowledge on natural calamities, they said.

Mr. Sharma and other officers explained on how to detect tsunami, preparedness for the calamity, rescue operations to be taken, alertness for fishermen on shore and offshore and explained about Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC). Joint Collectors, Additional Joint Collectors, Revenue Divisional Officers (RDOs) and State Disaster Response and Fire Services officials participated. If fishermen are in sea at the time of tsunami, they should go into waters where the depth is 1,000 metres, and when they are on shore, they are requested to move two kilometres away from the sea. Villagers are requested to follow the warnings of the district officials and they should move to safer places in two hours after the alert is given,” said the INCOIS officers.

Disaster Mitigation Special Secretary Tulasi Rani said a meeting would be held at Hyderabad to enlighten the officers on tsunami and other natural calamities.

“The possible tsunami areas are – Andaman-Sumatra and Makran -- and there are chances of tsunami occurring in nine coastal districts in AP and the effected areas are divided into Nellore and Visakhapatnam districts,” said Mr. Sharma and directed the officers to identify one seacoast village and send the particulars.

Tsunami effect is seen in India two hours after the warning is issued in Andaman Islands, say scientists