In a strategic tie-up,the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) will share information on the various disaster prone areas in the state. On Tuesday,IAF officers from Vadodara along with officials from the GSDMA and the districts in central Gujarat presented various aspects of the flood relief wherein limitations of flood rescue were discussed. GSDMA is not leaving a single stone upturned to ensure that any calamity doesnt affect the state,although several regions in the state have been labelled as Level five in its proneness to earthquakes. Besides,a good amount of rainfall in the last four years,coupled with a long coastline,which makes it vulnerable to cyclones,has wrecked havoc since 2005. Ranjeet Banerjee,the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GSDMA said: We are installing two satellite phones in all the 26 districts of the state. Besides,the virtual maps of the State Disaster Resource Network (SDRN) of GSDMA will be provided to the IAF rescue teams. Around 1,000 fire officials,policemen from various groups of Gujarat State Reserve Police (SRP) have been trained over the past one year in flood-relief at the Disaster Management Institute in Sinor in Vadodara district. He said GSDMA has also procured boats,nylon ropes and communication devices to boost the rescue teams. Meanwhile,IAF officers said that in the Gujarat floods of 2005,44 lives were saved in IAF operations. In order to spend more time in rescue operations,we need to have less paperwork. An interaction among the various civilian agencies and military is a must so that we can have maximum preparedness before any disaster strikes the region, said Air Commodore A S Behl,the Air Officer-in-Command,Vadodara. IAF personnel in Vadodara from Crew A,which is the search and rescue division,said it takes only 30-45 minutes,minus the paperwork,to begin a rescue operation. But bad weather and lack of proper landing strips are the main hurdles, said an IAF officer. The IAF officers demonstrated to various officials from the state government the need to make proper relief packages,which can be easily dropped in the disaster prone areas. Deputy Collector (Disaster Management),Sanjay Joshi said that disaster management cells in 225 blocks have already been activated to regularly update districts officials about any threat in the monsoons in the coming months.
