PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ New Tehri
While addressing a one-day district-level workshop on ‘Disaster Risk Reduction’ organised here on Saturday, the Disaster Management and Rehabilitation minister Madan Kaushik said that disaster management is not limited to the availability of resources, but it is also necessary to train and prepare all relevant departments and personnel for the sequence of actions to be taken during a disaster. “The state government has been continuously working to reduce response times,” he added.
The vice-chairman of the Disaster Management Advisory Committee, Lt Col Raghuveer Singh Bhandari (Retd), and secretary of the State Disaster Management Authority, Vinod Kumar Suman were present on the occasion.
Suman said that the Disaster Management department does not work now only when a disaster strikes, but advance preparedness is ensured throughout the year through training, workshops, mock drills, public awareness programmes, use of modern equipment, ‘Sachet’ app, cell broadcast system and other technical means. “Experts will provide practical and useful information in the workshop to the participants so that they can work effectively in the event of a disaster,” he added.
The district magistrate, Tehri, Nitika Khandelwal gave information about the preparations for monsoon and disaster management in the district. She said that JCB machines have been deployed in the district with GPS location, SDRF teams have been deployed in the Ganga area in Devprayag and Kirtinagar and three months’ essential rations have already been made available in remote areas. “Furthermore, a separate meeting has been held regarding the safety and disaster management of the Tehri Dam and all necessary preparations have been completed,” she added.
