Port Blair, Nov 21: If a major disaster were to hit, how prepared is Andaman and Nicobar Islands! That’s the question which the top officials of the civil and defence establishment discussed at a disaster preparedness briefing made to the Lt Governor, Lt Gen (Retd) A K Singh and Members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Member of Parliament, MR. B. P. Ray and the Chief Secretary, MR. Anand Prakash were also present.
Organised as part of the Mock Disaster Management Exercise by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration from November 20 to 22, 2013, various Departments of the Civil Administration and top defence officers apprised the Lt Governor and the NDMA team about the disaster preparedness as well as their response to meet any contingencies which may arise in the near future. Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioner of Rangat and Campbell Bay, through video conferencing, apprised the Lt Governor about the disaster scenario and the measures being taken to tackle disaster situation and the preparedness level to handle disasters.
Interacting with them, the Lt Governor expressed his satisfaction that for the first time all agencies connected with disaster preparedness and management had come together to discuss disaster related issues and their preparedness in a serious manner. He observed that disaster response would be a joint effort of the Civil Administration and Defence establishment. The first responder would be the Civil Administration and the Police and, hence, their prime focus should be on rescue operations. He expressed his appreciation for the alertness, capacity build-up and response mechanism of Andaman Nicobar Command, which is a great reassurance to all of us. Providing timely alert of disaster is the most crucial aspect, he said and issued directions to BSNL for enhancing the SMSs alert capacity so that maximum people can be alerted within a short time.
The Lt Governor further issued directions to the Secretary (Tourism) to devise some mechanism so that stranded tourists can be contacted, feel safe and are properly looked after. He also issued directions to Secretary (Fisheries) to ensure that fishermen venturing into sea develop habits of listening to news bulletin/disaster warning. The Lt Governor further issued directions to the Principal Secretary (Education) and CE (APWD) for ensuring school buildings are checked and where necessary reinforced for earthquake resistant capacity. Directions were issued to Secretary (Health) for deploying ‘MV Shompen’, the hospital ship to remote Islands regularly for medical camps so that medical facilities reach people in remote places. Directions were also issued to Secretary (IP) to work out arrangement with DDK National channel and AIR for telecasting news bulletin regularly to update their viewers/listeners wherever weather disruptions/disaster occurs. Directions were also issued to Health and Civil Supplies Departments to ensure stocking of sufficient essential ration items and medicines in all inhabited Islands for at least a period of three months.
Mr. B. Bhattacharjee and Mr. J.K. Sinha, Members, NDMA appreciated the efforts of the Administration in organizing the mock exercises and observed that the Administration should focus on making each inhabited Island self-sufficient in terms of food, equipment, proper response mechanism etc. Underscoring the need for conducting regular mock exercises, they suggested that the mock exercises must be followed up by concrete steps on the ground.
The Member of Parliament, Mr. B. P. Ray raised various important issues including timely information to people living in inaccessible pockets of the Islands, where there is no reach of telecommunication/wireless.
