The Bengal government is gearing up to minimise the devastation from cyclone Asani that is expected to make a landfall within 72 hours anywhere between the coastal belt of Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
The cyclone will be the third to hit the state in three successive years. The others left a major impact on lives and livelihood of people in Bengal, particularly in South 24-Parganas, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore.
“Though it is not sure that the cyclone would hit the coastal belt of Bengal, we cannot sit back. We have started preparing considering that the cyclone could hit the state again. The chief secretary has already held a meeting with all departments and agencies concerned and required instructions have been sent to the districts,” said a senior official.
Chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi chaired a meeting with the district magistrates and the Army, NDRF and the Coast Guard on Friday after the alert was issued by the met office. Soon after the meeting, the authorities of the three coastal districts took up several measures on Saturday, including mock drills of evacuation and opened control rooms apart from creating around one thousand teams to ensure quick rescue and proper handling of a disastrous situation.
“The flood relief centres are being cleaned. Food items and water pouches are being stored. We are ready to take up evacuation of people living in the low lying areas,” said a district magistrate.
The East Midnapore district administration formed 500 teams with the government staff of several departments, whereas South 24 Parganas till Saturday evening created about 400 such groups who would work round the clock in case the cyclone hits the state.
“We have formed around 500 teams who conducted a mock-drill on Saturday. Our officials along with all those connected with disaster management had visited the river and sea coasts of the districts today. The team assigned to manage falling trees trimmed branches of trees as part of the mock drill on Saturday,” said Purnendu Maji, the East Midnapore district magistrate.
Sources in the irrigation department said there are 10,562 km dykes and coasts in Bengal and the major part of worry is the weak dykes in the pockets of Sundarbans delta and coastal areas of South 24 Parganas.
“We have already alerted our officials and directed them to take measures with the weaker portion of the embankments. We have repaired most of the earthen embankments that were damaged during cyclone Yaas last year,” said Saumen Mahapatra, the state irrigation minister.
In South 24-Parganas, the district administration has opened an integrated control room in Alipore and in each of the four subdivisions.
"We have deputed quick response teams in all vulnerable locations with all necessary machines and equipment. In addition, the SDRF and the NDRF, Coast guard, Indian Navy will be called in whenever it is required,” South 24 Parganas DM P.Ulaganathan said, adding that fishing has been banned in the sea till 15th June.
The state government instructed the district administrations to take note of the issues raised by the Indian Coast Guard, the Indian Army and the NDRF during the meeting with the chief secretary on Friday.
According to sources, agencies pointed out that they don’t have a list of damaged or dangerous bridges in the state. They complained that they often find it difficult to get in touch with authorities as the list of contact persons during an emergency is often not available. The agencies also pointed out that there was no proper mapping of vulnerable areas during a disaster like cyclone.
"The agencies made it clear that these loopholes often left them in trouble while carrying out rescue operations during a natural disaster. The state government has taken a note of this and asked the district authorities to prepare all the documents that are sought by the agencies," said a senior official.
