Centre to finalise Disaster Management Policy by Dec

Hyderabad, Oct 27 (UNI) The Centre will come out with the new Disaster Management Policy by December with emphasis on synergies between Centre and the states Governments, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Vice-chairman Gen G C Vij said today.

As part of the policy, a para-military Disaster Response Force would be created with over 10,000 personnel drawn from the already existing forces like the CISF, BSF, CRPF and others to reach out to the people in times of natural calamities, Gen Vij told reporters here.

Four institutes would be set up for providing training to the personnel.

The Force would be located in eight most vulnerable areas which are prone to natural calamities including cyclones, floods and earthquakes, Gen Vij said.

Gen Vij, who earlier inaugurated a workshop to give final touches to the new policy said all the 144 teams would be constituted drawing two battalions each from the four existing para-military forces.

Mitigation reserves of food, drugs, clothing and utensils would be Centrally procured to take care of over three lakh people in the event of any disaster, he explained, Adding that civil, defence and home guards would be major tools of disaster management.

Informing that 14 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh had already constituted Disaster Management Authorities, he said other states would follow.

Praising social workers for doing a good work in the aftermath of Tsunami, he said their experiences were incorporated in the guidelines for implementation by states.

Lamenting that the Fire Service was not fully geared up to face disasters, he said the NDMA would come out with elaborate guidelines to make it a composite force to function effectively.

Within the next two to three years, the NDMA, which drew support from over 14 ministries and departments, would build a potential to effectively manage disasters within the country but also be in a position to cater to the needs of other countries, he added.

Elaborate guidelines would be evolved to minimise the damage caused by earthquakes, he said adding ''all new constructions must take into account disaster resilience''.

The guidelines on flood management would stress on inter-state cooperation on maintenance of water level in reservoirs to avoid flashfloods, he said.

Funds would not be a constraint as disaster management component would be mainstreamed into all developmental projects in the future.

The Working Group constituted by the Centre was raising the corpus fund for the National Mitigation Fund and the National Response Fund. He called for private sector participation to supplement the efforts of the Centre and State Governments in disaster management.

UNI SM JJ DKB RN1643