Temporary shelters ready in Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur districts 

Special Correspondent 
 
Nagapattinam, November 13, 2018 00:00 IST

Officials get ready in the wake of cyclone ‘Gaja’ warning

About 625 public buildings, including schools and colleges, community centres and marriage halls, have been kept in a state of readiness in Nagapattinam district to serve as temporary shelters for people, in the wake of the cyclone warning, Collector S. Suresh Kumar said here on Monday.

Chairing a coordination meeting to discuss the precautionary measures to be taken in view of the alert sounded over cyclone ‘Gaja,’ Mr. Suresh Kumar said nine multi-purpose disaster relief centres and 22 cyclone shelters have also been kept ready. Zonal officers and tahsildars have been instructed to make all necessary arrangements to accommodate people in case of emergency situations and organise food and drinking water supply to the relief shelters.

Over 200 shelters have been identified to accommodate cattle.

The administration has identified 4,454 first responders have been identified across the district and they would in coordination with the officials join the rescue and relief measures in case of exigencies. Fourteen static and 19 mobile medical teams have been formed in the district.

Separate teams of trained personnel have been formed by the police and Fire and Rescue Service to attend to exigencies.

About 6,000 electric poles were available with the Tangedco. The Fisheries Department has mobilised 54 boats. Over 1.19 lakh sand bags, electric saws and 84 earth movers have been kept on stand by.

Chairing a similar meeting in Tiruvarur, Collector L. Nirmal Raj said nearly 250 relief centres have been kept in a state of readiness in the district. If necessary, more relief centres would be opened. About 212 low lying areas have been identified in the district. Commodities required for two months have been stocked in the ration shops in these areas.

Mr. Raj also disclosed that 135 teams comprising 633 officers have been formed in the district to monitor various aspects of preventive, precautionary and relief measures. These apart, 62 trained swimmers from the police department, 12 from the home guards and 22 from Fire and Rescue Service would be deployed in case of emergency situations.

The Public Works Department has stocked up 1.02 lakh sand bags, adequate quantity of gunny bags and casuarina poles at 16 places across the district so that they could be moved in quickly in case of breaches on water courses. The Tangedco has 200 electric poles, cables to cover 250 km and five transformers as stand by to attend to emergency situations.

The Revenue and Disaster Management office at the Collector’s office would be manned round the clock. Public can pass on information by dialling 1,077, Mr. Raj said.