DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): Nagaland chief minister, Neiphiu Rio, has appealed to the central government and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to further fine tune the disaster management mechanism for the North Eastern Region, duly taking into account the geographical distance from the mainland and rising costs.
Speaking at the inaugural programme of the three-day ‘Training for trainers (ToT) on Incident Response System (IRS)’ for officials of state disaster management authorities of the North East at Chumukedima Police Complex on Tuesday, Rio said, “The North Eastern Region has a peculiar topography and a different social profile from the rest of the country with various attendant vulnerabilities. All these factors need to be accounted for while formulating and planning specific policies for disaster management in the North-East.” Small and major landslides are a prominent force in the North Eastern Region—there has been a noticeable increase in the frequency of landslides and Nagaland State has recorded 80 major landslides in the last six decades, the chief minister stated.
Another area of concern in Nagaland, he said, was the devastation caused by forest fires, recent being the forest fire at Mount Japfü near Kohima which destroyed about 50 acres of land, causing loss to precious flora and fauna. Rio lauded the thousand of local volunteers, Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority, fire & emergency services, forest department and the Eastern Command of the Indian Air Force which, for the first time in the country, did aerial fire-fighting (with helicopters). He said that the NSDMA will shortly start an extensive outreach programme on forest fires specifically targeting communities living in and around hazardous and forested hilly terrain.
Rio also suggested a re-look into the norms prescribed for dispensation of relief under SRDF. He said most of the ceilings prescribed prove to be incommensurate to the actual extent of loss or damage to property sustained by an individual.
“There is need for further enhancement beyond the revised rates of 2013. We are also being constantly advised to equip our trained state disaster response forces, but the ceiling on purchase equipments at 5% of the relatively smaller sanction of state disaster response fund, when compared with larger states in the country, restricts our earnest desire to modernize our SDRFs,” he added. The chief minister said the objective in formulating the IRS is to minimize loss of life and property by strengthening and standardizing the disaster response mechanism in the country. Rio said a proper understanding in the implementation of IRS with different roles and responsibilities assigned to different officials and organizations will enable the government and the people to effectively respond to large-scale disasters in the quickest and most coordinated way.
NDMA members JK Sinha and KM Singh highlighted on the activities of NDMA and also on the upcoming mega mock exercise in simulation of the 1897 Shillong earthquake of 8.7 magnitude in all North Eastern states.
‘Dreamz Unlimited’, a local theatre group staged a scintillating play on natural disaster, which was applauded by all delegates from NE region. Deputy speaker of Nagaland Assembly, Er. Levi Rengma; Parliamentary Secretary for CAWD, R Tohanba; Chairman, Development Authority of Nagaland, Jacob Zhimomi; DGP Nagaland, B Kezo and a host of government officials and police attended the inaugural programme.
