Panaji: Revenue secretary and member secretary of the Goa State Disaster Management Authority Sandip Jaques has called for proper mapping and zoning of the areas vulnerable to natural disasters, especially landslides, adding that developmental activities should be regulated.
Speaking after inaugurating a workshop on ‘causes of landslides, preventive and response measures’ organised at Secretariat, Jaques dwelt upon the measures required for advance preparedness.
There should be calamity mitigation and impact minimisation strategy through a combination of technical interventions so as to build capacities of people to deal with natural disasters, he said, adding that re-vegetating the denuded areas with requisite density of native trees also holds the key.
Surveillance and installation of early warning dissemination systems and the co-ordination of various stakeholders would help in reduction of response time of disaster management teams at the ground level, he reckoned.
The revenue secretary emphasised the need to undertake a more rigorous study on various dimensions of landslides and prepare an inventory and mapping of landslide-prone areas across Goa.
Underscoring the need for teamwork, he said, “There is definitely a need for convergence and complementary efforts from stakeholders and line departments.
“Each line department should prepare its own roadmap and find the gaps which we need to address and be prepared for any exigency, including a landslide,” he said.
Jaques said Wayanad landslides and the associated problems like flash floods, have made us all realise that, if we fail to prepare, we are indeed preparing to fail. This will neither be affordable nor tolerable, especially now.
Pointing to the landslide that occurred in 2021 in Satrem in Sattari taluka, he said it was the biggest in Goa’s history.
The Satrem landslide site was the largest in extent, followed by Sanvordem site in Caranzol and Maushi in Zarme. Some key impacts that have been highlighted in a report of the expert committee inter-alia include sediment transfer into waterbodies in the catchment areas.
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.