Cyclone Phailin
Cyclone Phailin, categorised as “very severe” by weather forecasters, is expected to hit Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states on today evening. The Meteorological Department has predicted the storm will bring winds up to 220 km/h (136mph). The storm is not only intense but covers a wide area. Odissa Government issued a high alert to the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Cuttack,Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Ganjam and Gajapati; and cancelled the Dusshera holidays of employees of all 30 districts of the state, asking them to ensure safety of people. Food and relief materials were stocked-up at storm shelters across the state. Phailin is the last of the first set of 32 names for tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean. The names have been suggested by Asian countries since 2004. Phailin, was named by Thailand and means “sapphire” in Thai. The previous one was Mahasen, named by Sri Lanka and the next one will be Helen, named by Bangladesh.
In India, the Disaster Management Act, which has been in force since 2005, has established National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The law also provides for “an enabling environment for institutional mechanisms at the State and district levels.” Provisions of the Disaster Management Act should be used to install early warning systems in the mountainous regions and the trans-Himalayan territory. At a time when there is no dearth of money and material, the advance warning systems can be installed with ease to save the people from falling prey to natural disaster.
The following lessons can be drawn from the Tragedy:
1. Need for installing Early Warning System in such tragedy-prone areas;
2. Storage facilities for emergency relief measures like medicine, packed food, etc;
3. Better convergence between the local administration, state government and Armed Forces;
4. Establishment of State Disaster Management Authority;
5. Activating the National Disaster Management Authority which is still in evolving stage
6. Need for Inter-Sectoral convergence between various ministries of the Centre;
7. Urgency for better convergence between the Centre and tragedy-prone states;
8. Generating awareness among the people about such calamities with the help of civil societies;
9. Making the native people aware about maintaining ecological equilibrium.
