Tamil Nadu: New policy to minimise loss of lives, property during disaster

CHENNAI: With a view to minimising impact on lives, livelihood, critical infrastructure, and environment during disasters, chief minister M K Stalin on Friday rolled out state disaster management plan and state disaster management policy 2023.
The plan aims at making Tamil Nadu a disaster resilient state by enhancing the capacity of all stakeholders to respond to disasters. The plan aims at minimising impact on critical infrastructure like health and education and socio-cultural status of people.
The policy said inclusive development and mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) into the sustainable development ethos of the state were the need of the hour.
Over the past century, more than 50 cyclones had battered the Tamil Nadu coast at various locations, posing a constant threat to people living in the coastal districts.
Apart from the cyclones, other natural disasters like floods, landslides, droughts, sea erosion and sea water incursion, heat waves, thunderstorm and lightning, industrial & chemical disasters, fire accidents and forest fires also have had serious impact on the state. The policy reflects the priority of the state in protecting human and animal lives, livelihoods, public and private properties by addressing disaster risk reduction and transforming risks to resilience.
On the implementation of the plan, Tamil Nadu disaster risk reduction agency says that the disaster management (DM) Act 2005 enjoins state governments to make provisions for the implementation of the disaster management plans.
The Act also mandates that every department of the state government prepare a departmental disaster management plan in accordance with the state disaster management plan (SDMP).
Disaster risk reduction initiative of the government includes sanctioning ₹25.7 crore for installation of 1,400 automatic rain gauges and 100 automatic weather stations. In an effort to strengthen the weather forecast system, two doppler weather radars and two upper weather observations (weather balloons) will be set up in the state.
Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority will integrate data from 500 plus existing functional automatic rain gauge stations & automatic weather stations to its own data base to strengthen the weather forecast network.