SHILLONG, SEPT 12: With north east India considered to be “highly vulnerable” to disaster, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has asked the Meghalaya government to constitute its own State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) as part of its ‘preparedness’ and for effective ‘response’ to disaster in the state..
“We have earlier submitted our proposal to the Meghalaya government to have a SDRF in place in the state considering the vulnerability of the region. We are still waiting for the state government to reply to this,” NDMA member KM Singh said.
Singh informed out of eight north eastern states Meghalaya and Manipur are yet to constitute their SDRF despite the region being highly vulnerable to disaster.
Giving a presidential address at a two days conference on ‘Safe Management of Chemical, Petroleum and Petrochemical Industries’ organized by the NDMA in collaboration with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGR), Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Thursday, Singh said that there is only one NDRF battalion in Guwahati, Assam for NE.
Singh said, “We wanted that all the states to have in place their own SDRFs as part of strengthening the disaster management mechanism.” He warned that the states in the north east region have to remain prepared and have in place a disaster response mechanism to deal with emergency.
Stating that the NDRF are trained and equipped as per international experts, Singh further informed that the centre has recently sanctioned one more battalion in Upper Assam or Silchar wherever land is available and it will start within a year.
Singh also said because there are petroleum industries in north east the region is considered as highly prone besides the the “seismic vulnerability”. He said as the north east is prone to natural disasters like cyclone, floods, landslide, rain and earthquake and being the hub of petroleum products can trigger chemical incidences which will cascading impacts.
Singh said to minimize this chemical, petrochemical, petroleum and natural gas related entities there is a need to retrofit additional measures to take care of vulnerable areas for protection and strengthening.”
“The NDMA had also prepared comprehensive guidelines on chemical (industries) disaster management in 2007, which has become the baseline for minimizing chemical incidences in the country.” Singh informed. He said the country had recorded 1861 major hazardous accidents in 26 states and so far only 15 states have set up their respective state dedicated forces meant for immediate response to disaster and also involving community capacity building and creating awareness on the need to observe and follow safety guidelines.
In his augural address Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma informed that the state government would soon set up the state disaster response force as mandated by the NDMA. He said, “You reminded me that we need to move faster and ensure that it is put in place at the earliest.”
Stating that Meghalaya does not have a regulatory board to cover different industries, Sangma however said that there is a need to collaborate with NDMA to ensure that all these policy are incorporated. He said, “We need to relook into issues concerning our preparedness and others including sensitization.”- By Our Reporter
What about the High rise buildings that are a threat especially when we are prone to earthquakes…Laws and rules violated to suit the high and mighty and the SDRF to clean up the violation….???