With north-east monsoon expected to intensify in southern districts, disaster management mechanism was in place to tackle any eventuality, said Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao.
He told The Hindu on Thursday that 33 teams, with officials drafted from different levels and various departments, had been formed for the purpose. Each team would have two divisions - one would focus on rescue and the other on restoration. Of these teams, eight had been assigned for Madurai Corporation with two teams for each of the four zones. Each of the 13 panchayat unions, nine town panchayats and three municipalities had been assigned one team each.
Officials said that 24 vulnerable places, including areas near Madakulam, Nilaiyur and Maravankulam tanks, had been identified as vulnerable areas, for which 38 shelters had been identified in the eventuality of evacuation during flood. The district administration had also identified 184 shelters across the district.
Mr. Rao said 410 volunteers had been trained in places across the district as first respondents. “The 33 teams are in charge of rescue and restoration. However, if there is a slight delay in response from these teams in reaching a place during emergency, the first respondents can take mitigation measures such as helping people reach shelters or providing first aid,” he said.
As many as 115 volunteers were trained swimmers and 11 could catch snakes. A round-the-clock district-level emergency operation centre had started functioning, he added
Referring to the recent incident in Kodungaiyur in Chennai in which two girls were electrocuted after they stepped on live wire fallen on stagnant water, he said TANGEDCO officials had been asked to take all steps to ensure that such incident never took place in the district.