Kerala govt launches updated 'Orange Book of Disaster Management'

The Kerala government has launched the updated 'Orange Book of Disaster Management' featuring standard operating procedures and the action to be taken in the event of any natural disasters among other guidelines ahead of the upcoming monsoon season. Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan released the updated 'Orange book of disaster management - Kerala - Standard operating procedures and emergency support functions plan' and the 'Monsoon preparedness and emergency response plan' on Tuesday.

The book contains detailed guidelines for the management of relief camps and dam management among other things, in the backdrop of COVID-19 in the state. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the southwest monsoon over Kerala this year is likely to set in on June 5 with a model error of plus or minus four days.

The book contains procedure of the setting up of camps in case of floods while keeping under consideration the COVID-19 situation. It also contains directions with regard to disaster management, instructions to those who return to their residence from the relief camps after the disaster, hospitals with anti-venom treatment in case of snakebite and others.

A press release issued by the Revenue department also said that details on utilisation of volunteers, instruction in case of dam openings, helicopter landings among others are included in the updated version of the Orange Book. The updation has been done on the basis of an evaluation meeting called by the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA).

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had last week said that the state has to gear up for the monsoon challenge while it fights COVID-19. He had also said the SDMA has devised plans to deal with the monsoon menace along with fighting pandemic.

The SDMA has identified at least 27,000 buildings for quarantine facilities for the COVID-19 patients in the state out of which, at least 2.5 lakh rooms are with bathrooms. The SDMA has instructed the district administrations and the local self government institutions to get ready to deal with the monsoon this time while fighting COVID-19. The monsoon last year caused landslides across North Kerala resulting in loss of over 100 lives.

The state had also witnessed the worst floods of the century in the 2018 monsoon when at least 483 people had lost their lives.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)