With the summer heat rising, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) has asked government departments to adopt necessary measures for preventing heatstroke incidents.
The KSDMA has asked the Health Department to instruct doctors, nurses, health workers, Asha workers and other officers to be on alert.
The department has been asked to conduct awareness camps in health centres and hospitals and to report heatstroke incidents promptly to the Member Secretary, KSDMA.
Regulate outdoors
The Education Department has been asked to ensure that school assemblies are either avoided altogether or cut short.
In the event of a heatwave alert, school assemblies are to be expressly avoided. Schools have also been asked to regulate outdoor physical training and sports activities and to ensure adequate availability of drinking water and emergency medicines.
Protecting ponds
The Local Self-Government Department should establish rest facilities for labourers and the general public and ensure that trees in public spaces are watered.
The department has also been asked to ensure that ponds and streams are protected.
Tourists should be warned of the possibility of sunstroke, the KSDMA has told the Tourism Department.
The KSDMA has asked the department to ensure adequate water supply in tourist centres and establish facilities for emergency treatment. The KSDMA has advised police officers who are on duty outdoors between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to use umbrellas and to carry water with them in bottles.
Water for wildlife
The authority has instructed the Forest Department to ensure adequate water in forests for wild animals and to be on alert for the possibility of wild animals leaving the forest in search of water.
Steps should also be promptly taken to prevent forest fires, the KSDMA said.