Disaster management teams told to be vigilant

Amaravati: The APSDMA must give policy directions to all the levels within the State for implementation of any disaster management plan which includes prevention and mitigation, directed Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to the officials concerned.

During a review meeting with the APSDMA (Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority), a State-level disaster management committee, on Wednesday, Chandrababu Naidu said the authority should always be prepared to tackle any disaster.

The APSDMA’s mission was to "Transform Andhra Pradesh to a disaster resilient state through implementing holistic, proactive and technology-driven strategies for the effective management of multiple disasters”, explained officials.

Chandrababu Naidu was also informed that various disaster management units have been set up in State as well as at district-level and the training for the staff has been going on for the past 6 months.

The officials informed that currently there are 3 disaster management organisations at State=level which are SDMA – State Disaster Management Authority, SEC- State Executive Committee and SEOC- State Emergency Operations Center. All the organisations are all headed by the Chief Minister.

The officials informed that to counter various disasters, APSDMA has wings which are capable of handling calamities such as chemical disasters, droughts, man-made disasters and fire accidents. Chandrababu Naidu said, “Our focus is to streamline the whole process of managing and preventing disasters by using the workforce and budget in the best way.

We have 1000 members district wise under disaster management force along with the volunteers and we have to make sure that they are well trained to handle any situation”

Speaking about their preparedness for any kind of calamity, an official from APSDMA said, “We have synced data from sources such as ISRO which can enable us to look for all the resources in case of a calamity. For chemical disasters, we have set up workshops at factories and have developed a software which can show us the spread of the chemicals and will provide with the best methods to escape that.”

“We also have a list of all the chemicals that the factories are dealing with in our database and that will be extremely helpful to prevent chemical disasters,” he added. Chandrababu Naidu asked the disaster management authorities as well as the fire services to have historical data as well as a preventive attitude to combat the calamities.

During last four months the disaster management authorities have sent 1.5 crore messages to citizens of AP with tips, do’s and don’ts to create awareness on disaster management, officials explained. Apart from it, they are conducting regular training, workshops and drills which are registering great participation.

Asking the disaster management teams to be prepared for any situation, the Chief Minister said, “Heat wave, tsunamis, fire accidents, droughts, cyclones, chemical disasters are the major disasters that your focus must be on and the process must be streamlined and APSDMA must be prepared to counter any incident”.