Tamil Nadu to set up seismic monitoring centre

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government will set up a seismic monitoring centre with the support of the National Centre for Seismology of the Union government, given the seismic activities felt in the recent past in the state.
The government will introduce a new mobile application, TN-Alert, to issue alerts to the users on disasters, storage levels of waterbodies, and information on thunderstorm, lightning and rainfall, besides a technical unit equipped with experts from various fields at Rs 13 crore.
“The observatory with seismic sensors and data acquisition system will be set up with the technical assistance from the National Centre for Seismology at an estimated cost of Rs 30 lakh,” revenue and disaster management minister K K S S R Ramachandran told the assembly.
Two disaster rescue centres will be built in Mayiladuthurai at Rs 16 crore to benefit the residents staying on the banks of the river Kollidam. The left bank of the Kollidam will be strengthened in Cuddalore at Rs 14.5 crore. The analogue VHF repeaters installed in 31 districts will be upgraded to digital to ensure uninterrupted communication.
Recalling the announcement made last year to install two weather radars and enrich the system of weather balloons to improve accuracy of forecast, Ramachandran said the Indian Meteorological Department had formed committees of scientists to assist the state government in finalising the locations and cost.
The high-power computing facility at the Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad will be utilised to generate more accurate mesoscale weather forecasting and a MoU will be signed for forecast and knowledge sharing.