Monsoon season is here: How prepared is Kerala in facing another calamity?

With the onset of monsoon season, Kerala, which is yet to come out of the shocks of the 2018 and 2019 floods that claimed over 500 lives, seems to be better prepared to face another calamity this time.

All the local self-government institutions have got disaster management plans ready. Around 3,000 families were shifted from vulnerable areas. Weather alert systems were improved and advance flood mitigation measures were initiated. With the monsoon coinciding with COVID-19, more buildings for setting up separate monsoon relief camps for COVID-quarantined and vulnerable groups like aged are being identified.

Meanwhile, the lockdown owing to COVID-19 had reportedly delayed flood mitigation measures, especially cleaning of stormwater drains in major cities and towns.

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Kerala State Disaster Management Authority member secretary Sekhar L Kuriakose said that preparations for monsoon kicked off by mid-April as soon as the long-range monsoon forecast came. Various review meetings right from the level of the chief minister were held and steps were initiated to clean hotspots like Pumba river and Thaneermukkam bund, which are crucial in avoiding flooding of areas like Kuttanad and Pathanamthitta that were badly hit in the previous foods.

Sekhar said that it was perhaps for the first time in India that any state in having disaster management plan kept ready by all local-self governments. The plans were prepared on the basis of the 2018 and 2019 situations.

KSDMA initiated a reassessment of calamity-prone areas through field verification and reports were submitted to respective district collectorates. Around 3,000 families agreed to relocate by accepting Rs 10 lakh each compensation. Even as a fresh flood hazard map from Central Water Commission is still awaited, KSDMA prepared one with the help of available data on 2018 and 2019 floods.

The weather observation systems of KSDMA have been improvised by roping in the service of four more weather agencies apart from the Indian Meteorological Department. Skymet, IBM Weather Company, Earth Networks and Windy are the private weather agencies being engaged.

The Orange Book for Disaster Management was revised in detail with all aspects like what people should do and plans for deploying rescue forces. Meetings of heads of all forces and dam owners were also held, said Sekhar.

The lockdown reportedly delayed flood mitigation measures, especially cleaning of stormwater drains in major cities and towns, but the state now seems ready to face the fury of monsoon.