Disaster Management

Amid several analyses of Kerala’s devastating floods earlier this month pointing to lack of preparedness escalating the impact of the extreme weather event, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) Madhavan Rajeevan said a ‘red alert’ issued by the IMD for several districts of Kerala two days ahead of the August …

The Union government has declared the Kerala floods a “calamity of severe nature”. Here is a look at what this means, whether the State can expect additional help from the Centre and how the various disaster relief funds in the country are funded and deployed. What are the classifications of …

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Sunday that six health officers would be deployed in each panchayat to ensure that there was no outbreak of communicable diseases as the flood waters receded and the focus shifted to relief and rehabiliation. The State government would distribute 36 lakh textbooks free …

Air Marshal B. Suresh’s primary concern as he air-dropped relief supplies over flood-hit Chenganoor on Sunday was to ensure that he did not accidentally injure citizens marooned on roofs. The Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command, had made a mid-day sortie into the swamped locality on board an MI-17 B, …

The rescue operation for flood victims in Pathanamthitta and Thrissur districts continued on Saturday with response teams battling strong river currents and heavy rain to bring stranded citizens to safety, even as a parallel crisis unfolded in the Kuttanad region, where rising floodwaters inundated thousands of houses, forcing a mass …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to aerially survey flood-hit Kerala on Saturday. More than 160 people have been killed and over 1.5 lakh moved to relief camps in the State. Mr. Modi also spoke to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday and offered him all assistance. A high …

Hundreds of volunteers and fishworkers joined hands with teams of the armed forces, National Disaster Response Force, and State government agencies in a massive operation to rescue over 82,000 citizens from flooded locations in four districts on Friday. The rescue efforts which commenced at daybreak continued into the night. Helicopters …

Cabinet Secretary orders supply of drinking water, dry food packets to flood-hit Kerala The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the Union Cabinet Secretary had constituted a committee chaired by the chairman of the Central Water Commission and engineers-in-chiefs of Tamil Nadu and Kerala for “proper reservoir management …

Social media was flooded with distress calls from stranded people as well as videos of swirling waters taking over homesteads, roads and riverbanks. The personnel of the Army, the National Disaster Response Force, the State police and the Revenue Department had a tough time reaching out to the people marooned …

Kodagu inundated; administration issues advisory to tourists against travel to district The arterial road connecting Bengaluru to the State’s coast will be barred for heavy traffic for the next 10 days following incessant rains and repeated landslides in the Shiradi Ghat stretch of National Highway 75. The Karnataka State Road …