Cyclone Vayu: Union Home Secretary review preparedness of state, Central ministries

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness of state and central ministries agencies concerned to deal with the situation arising out of Cyclone 'Vayu'.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) apprised that Cyclone 'Vayu' is expected to cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Diu around the west of Veraval as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm with wind speed 145-155 kmph gusting to 170 kmph in the forenoon of June 13, read a statement.

It is likely to cause heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of Gujarat and storm surge of height of about 1.5-2.0 m above the astronomical tides likely to inundate the low lying coastal areas of Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagarh, Diu, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts at the time of landfall.

IMD has been issuing regular bulletins to all the concerned states.

The meeting was attended by senior Officers from Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Department of Telecom, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Disaster Management Authority, Integrated Defence Staff, India Meteorological Department and National Disaster Response Force.

In the meeting, Chief Secretary of Gujarat and Advisor to Administrator of Diu were also connected through video conferencing and they apprised about preparatory measures put in place for dealing with the cyclonic storm, the statement said.

Gujarat has already evacuated about 1.2 lakhs people from low lying areas to safer places and would complete the evacuation of 3 lakh people by 4 pm today. Similarly, Diu has evacuated 8000 people and would complete the evacuation of over 10000 people by 4 pm.

Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued orders to telecom service providers to allow inter-circle roaming without any extra charge, the statement added.

Ministry of Home Affairs is in continuous touch with the state governments/UT and the central agencies concerned. NDRF has pre-positioned 52 teams equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipment etc.

Indian Coast Guard, the Navy, Army and Air Force units have also been put on standby and surveillance aircraft and helicopters are carrying out aerial surveillance.

Reviewing the preparedness of the state and central agencies, the Union Home Secretary directed the concerned officials to take all precautionary measures with a view to ensure that no human life is lost and minimize damage to infrastructure. He also reviewed arrangements for making available essential food, drinking water and medicines in relief camps and to ensure the maintenance of all essential services such as Power, Telecommunications, health etc. and that these are restored immediately in the event of damages caused to them.

( With inputs from ANI )