Flood Preparedness: Assam State Disaster Management Authority Consults with 40 Departments

 Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) today organized an all-stakeholder flood preparedness consultation with more than 40 departments, as well as state and central agencies connected with disaster preparedness, response, and recovery before the onset of flood season in the state this year.

Official sources said that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has instructed different departments to utilize the time during which the election model code of conduct is in force to map out strategies to combat the floods this year, as the flood season will arrive by the time the Lok Sabha election is over.

Last year, 29 districts were affected, around 100 lives were lost, and several lakhs of people were affected by the floods. After the floods receded, the state government constructed numerous road embankments to prevent the floods from causing more devastation in the future.

On the instruction of the CM, to give a push to flood preparedness in the state, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) organized a flood preparedness consultation at the Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara. Today’s meeting was chaired by Gyanendra Dev Tripathi, IAS, Principal Secretary to the Government of Assam, Revenue & Disaster Management Department, CEO ASDMA. Today’s meeting was the culmination of a series of thematic flood preparedness discussions ASDMA has been holding with line departments.

To prepare for the coming flood season, a stratified approach has been adopted by ASDMA, under which flood preparedness has been divided into thematic groups like coordination of response, relief camp management, ensuring continuity of services, critical infrastructure preparedness, risk communication, reporting, and damage assessment. As part of these efforts, consultations have been held with various departments like Power, Education, PWD, etc., along with the Department of Telecom, Fire & Emergency Services (F & ES), NDRF, and SDRF to spruce up the preparedness for response and recovery in their areas of responsibility.

The coordination meeting today took stock of the various action points for flood preparedness decided as part of the consultations by the various departments. Along with State Disaster Relief Fund norms, OMSS rice distribution for flood relief was also discussed. As part of the discussion, officials of NDRF, SDRF, F& ES discussed measures for prompt response and recovery during the floods. During the discussion, officials of NESAC and IMD were apprised of the measures taken for flood early warnings during the forthcoming monsoon season.

 Also Read: Guwahati:Severe Flooding Hits Guwahati's LGBI Airport, Stranding Travelers (sentinelassam.com)

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