Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 9 Disaster plans will be implemented soon for all 14 districts in the State, according to Revenue Minister, Mr K P Rajendran. Delivering the inaugural address at a conference here on ‘Minimum standards for food, water supply, sanitation and hygiene, health services and medical cover and psycho-social support in disaster relief' on Tuesday, the Minister said that final touches were being given to a State Disaster Plan as well.
He advocated the need for minimum level of services, which must be maintained by every agency while working for a disaster affected community.
MINIMUM LEVEL
The two-day conference is being hosted by Sphere India, a national coalition of humanitarian agencies, in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), ESAF, a leading NGO, and Unicef.
Earlier, Prof N Vinod Chandra Menon, Member, NDMA, inaugurated the event. He said that while hazards are inevitable, the negative impacts can be minimised with appropriate measures and by following a certain set of minimum standards in different sectors.
He explained the efforts of NDMA and the role of NGOs and civil societies in disaster management, and emphasised on the need of coordinated efforts to develop minimum standards for disaster relief.
The NDMA in collaboration with State Governments and Sphere India had already conducted eight conferences on minimum standards in disaster relief in Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. The aim was to create awareness in building and collecting feedback and recommendations, from communities and stakeholders, on the subject.
KEY AGENCIES
Mr Vikrant Mahajan, Chief Operating Officer, Sphere India, explained the activities of the organisation and its members, which include key nodal agencies from the Government of India, the UN and international NGOs, NGO networks and national NGOs. The recommendations from the conference would he helpful to NDMA and the KSDMA in developing contextualized guidelines.
Mr Paul Thomas, Executive Director, ESAF, also spoke on the occasion. Almost 200 people from Kerala and Tamil Nadu attended the conference on the first day. The second day would focus on recommendations for National Guidelines on Minimum Standards (being prepared by NDMA) and for contextualization of the minimum standards in the context of Kerala.
Source : Business Line