With the monsoon gathering strength and causing large-scale destruction in the district, efforts are on to revive the activities of all the task forces in various taluks for effective disaster management.
Senior Revenue officers have been asked to review the preparedness of such groups in all villages to deal with flash floods, landslips and whirlwinds, and adopt a suitable action plan for the monsoon season.
Along with the Revenue squad, officials from Fire and Rescue, Police and Fisheries departments will play a major role in the rescue activities.
Support of voluntary organisations will also be roped in to mitigate the effects of natural calamities. Fire and Rescue Service officials said many such voluntary groups had been trained to be deployed during emergencies as community rescue volunteers. The groups were capable of managing an emergency situation till the arrival of rescue teams, they added.
District Collector U.V. Jose said all taluks in Kozhikode had their own control rooms to coordinate disaster management activities. The control rooms, including the one opened at the district headquarters, would function round-the-clock, he said.
Coastal areas
Arrangements are also in place in coastal areas to shift families in case of serious sea erosion threat or high tide. Revenue officials have reviewed facilities in some school buildings in the city limit to rehabilitate people. A separate control room is now functional at the Beypore fisheries station to attend to rescue requests from fishers.
As an additional security measure, avenue trees that pose a threat to commuters safety will soon be cleared. The formation of a quick response team to swing into action in the event of tree falls will be considered this week.
So far, about 50 houses have been partly damaged in the monsoon in Kozhikode district.
Heavy winds claimed the life of an elderly woman at Chaliyam on Saturday. The police said the woman died after a coconut tree fell on her.