Disaster management wings take stock of preparedness

Khairatabad: Telangana Disaster Management Department (Revenue) and Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS) conducted a one-day workshop on District Disaster Management Plan at Gananka Bhavan here on Tuesday.

The main agenda of the workshop is to prepare government machinery for tackling disasters in the all districts of the State. Pre-planned actions can prevent or reduce the rate of the disasters.

According to a survey by TSDPS, there are 295 mandals of Telangana which are highly drought-prone and only 19 are less-drought prone mandals in the state. Similarly, 95 mandals are highly heat wave-prone in the state, said SK Meera, the CEO of TSDPS.

Meera said the main activities of TSDPS are weather monitoring with a focus on automatic real-time acquisition and dissemination of weather-related parameters and involves flood models and drought monitoring. To facilitate data collection, TSDPS has installed 865 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), 64 global radiation sensors and 41 soil moisture sensors across the state to acquire data on real-time basis.

An AWS measures 6 weather parameters: rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, pressure, humidity and temperature. In addition, it also measures global radiation and soil moisture at desired location at every one hour interval and transmits it in the form of SMS using GSM technology. At present, at least one AWS for each mandal is installed in a grid of 10km X 10km. River gauge measures the water level in the river at a particular location and transmits data at hourly intervals.

Dr K R Sastri explained about Hazard, Vulnerability, Capacity and Risk Assessment (HVCRA) model. He said HVCRA is dynamic and would enhance common understanding amongst stakeholders on priority sector areas that need attention for risk reduction and sustaining developmental gains.

List of hazards with probability of occurrence will provide information about the exposure levels of various villages and cities that fall in multi hazard zones and disaster management officials also would do well to look at issues that are being faced in the district due to climate variability.

Vulnerability would cover various social groups, infrastructure, properties, and environmental resources that are vulnerable to the impact of various hazards in the district. Capacities and Resources Analysis will highlight the capabilities and availability of resources with the district administration and stakeholders to reduce disaster risks and organise effective response.

Vishwajit Kampati, the Director of EDM, advised officials to be ready for undertaking relief and rescue operations in the event of any disaster. The officials should be ready to take up relief operations and mitigate the sufferings of the people.

According to Rajitha Kishore, the HAM Operators Club Secretary, "When the traditional modes of communication fail, the HAMs come to the rescue. HAMs have played a crucial role in providing communication during earthquakes, floods and other calamities. Our former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was an active HAM who did his might in promoting it as a hobby."