Cyclone Jawad: PM Modi chairs high-level meet to review preparedness
New Delhi, Dec 02: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting today to review the preparedness of States and Central Ministries & concerned agencies to deal with the situation arising out of the likely formation of Cyclone Jawad.
Prime Minister directed officials to take every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated and to ensure maintenance of all essential services such as Power, Telecommunications, health, drinking water etc. and that they are restored immediately in the event of any disruption. He further directed them to ensure adequate storage of essential medicines & supplies and to plan for unhindered movement. He also directed for 24*7 functioning of control rooms.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) informed that low pressure region in the Bay of Bengal is expected to intensify into Cyclone Jawad and is expected to reach coast of North Andhra Pradesh - Odisha around morning of Saturday 4th December 2021, with the wind speed ranging upto 100 kmph.
It is likely to cause heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha & W.Bengal. IMD has been issuing regular bulletins with the latest forecast to all the concerned States.
Cabinet Secretary has reviewed the situation and preparedness with Chief Secretaries of all the Coastal States and Central Ministries/ Agencies concerned.
Ministry of Home Affairs is reviewing the situation 24*7 and is in touch with the State Governments/ UTs and the Central Agencies concerned. MHA has already released the first instalment of SDRF in advance to all States. NDRF has pre-positioned 29 teams which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipments etc. in the States and has kept 33 teams on standby.
Indian
Coast
Guard
and
the
Navy
have
deployed
ships
and
helicopters
for
relief,
search
and
rescue
operations.
Air
Force
and
Engineer
task
force
units
of
Army,
with
boats
and
rescue
equipment,
are
on
standby
for
deployment.
Surveillance
aircraft
and
helicopters
are
carrying
out
serial
surveillance
along
the
coast.
Disaster
Relief
teams
and
Medical
Teams
are
standby
at
locations
along
the
eastern
coast.
Ministry
of
Power
has
activated
emergency
response
systems
and
is
keeping
in
readiness
transformers,
DG
sets
and
equipments
etc.
for
immediate
restoration
of
electricity.
Ministry
of
Communications
is
keeping
all
the
telecom
towers
and
exchanges
under
constant
watch
and
is
fully
geared
to
restore
telecom
network.
Ministry
of
Health
&
Family
Welfare
has
issued
an
advisory
to
the
States/
UTs,
likely
to
be
affected,
for
health
sector
preparedness
and
response
to
COVID
in
affected
areas.
Ministry of Port, Shipping and Waterways has taken measures to secure all shipping vessels and has deployed emergency vessels. The states have also been asked to alert the industrial establishments such as Chemical & Petrochemical units near the coast.
NDRF is assisting the State agencies in their preparedness for evacuating people from the vulnerable locations and is also continuously holding community awareness campaigns on how to deal with the cyclonic situation.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary to PM, Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, DG NDRF and DG IMD.