Cyclone Fani control room number 1938 now operational

Bhubaneswar, May 03: The control room helpline number 1938 set up for cyclone Fani is now operational.

The control room set up by the Ministry for Home Affairs would provide latest updates.

Over 4,000 specialised personnel as part of 81 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed to deal with the 'extremely severe' cyclone 'Fani' which is likely to affect Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal upon its landfall on Friday.

NDRF chief S N Pradhan told PTI that about 50 teams have been pre-positioned in the coastal areas of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal which are feared to be affected while another 31 teams have been kept on standby.

Twenty-eight fully equipped teams have been deployed in and around Puri in Odisha as the cyclonic storm is expected to make a landfall there on Friday noon, the NDRF Director General (DG) said.

Similarly, 12 teams have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and six in West Bengal. The rest of the teams, that comprise about 50 personnel each, have been kept on standby in these states.

Pradhan said a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and a commandant-rank officer have also been tasked to monitor the activities of the rescue and relief teams from ground in Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar and Puri.

The teams have been equipped with additional boats, satellite phones, medical equipment, medicines, tree cutters, pickup and common mobility vehicles, and other gadgets, he said.

The force has also activated a round-the-clock control room at its headquarters here and a team of officials is in constant touch with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the disaster response units of the three states.

NDRF teams have also been kept on alert in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

"Cyclone 'Fani' is expected to cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali to the south of Puri on May 3. NDRF teams are creating awareness among the locals in vulnerable areas about the measures to be taken to deal with the cyclonic storm and other eventualities. The state administration has set up a number of relief camps," an NDRF spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the NDRF teams have doctors, paramedics, engineers, deep divers and are equipped with boats, buoys, life jackets, scuba sets and latest communication equipment like quick deployable antenna (QDA), HF/VHF sets so that communication links function even if normal communication network fails.

Fani lays centred over West Central Bay of Bengal, about 430 km south-southwest of Puri in Odisha, 225 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 650 km south-southwest of Digha in West Bengal, as per the latest bulletin of the IMD.