Cyclone Nivar: How better preparation contained the damage in Tamil Nadu

The pressure is likely to concentrate into depression, moving westwards, and reach south Tamil Nadu coast by December 2

The damage Cyclone Nivar has caused, unlike in the past, has been minimal, owing to better preparedness and timely government action.

The storm killed at least four people and uprooted trees and destroyed huts before weakening into a deep depression as it moved towards north-northwest.

It made a landfall near Puducherry early on Thursday. Before that, there was heavy rain in parts of coastal Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, accompanied with strong winds and high tides.

The administration and experts have said while the low wind helped, the state’s preparedness was important in containing the damage.

The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority on Saturday said a low-pressure area had formed over south-east Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas of the South Andaman and equatorial Indian Ocean. It is likely to concentrate into a depression during the next 48 hours and move westwards and approach the south Tamil Nadu coast by December 2.

The state’s priority is preventing major casualties and damages with the bureaucracy acquiring higher efficiency in terms of early warning, thanks to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The IMD had shown the route the cyclone would take as early as November 23, and this helped in warning and evacuation from the coast.

K Sivan, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), said the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad monitored the cyclone, using the data from three satellites.

Impact assessment was done after the cyclone, with the help of Indian satellites. One hundred datasets were received from them. Besides Isro’s satellites, the data of eight satellites belonging to foreign space agencies was used.

Tamil Nadu also looked at some of the practices adopted by other states during catastrophic events.

“As soon as we received information about the likelihood of the storm, we took steps to minimise the damage,” Chief Minister K Palaniswami said.
 

He, his cabinet ministers, and bureaucrats were at the state control room day and night. They were also on the field before and after the cyclone, overseeing relief measures.

The government has identified 4,133 vulnerable locations in 18 districts and the district collectors concerned have been instructed to take special care. Cyclone relief camps have been set up in 3,344 places.

As many as 121,152 people have been evacuated. This time, the number of cyclone relief centres has been doubled to 8,813 to accommodate 250,000 people to ensure social distancing, said Phanindra Reddy, principal secretary and commissioner, Disaster Management and Mitigation Department.

“We didn’t want the relief camps to end up becoming super spreaders (of the virus),” Reddy said, adding that people were screened for Covid symptoms at the camps. Thankfully, in the past few days, the state did not see an increase in Covid cases, especially in the camps, which had 24X7 medical facilities.

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and officials in Tamil Nadu said the Covid-19 infrastructure helped in cyclone relief. 

“In relief camps, we need to ensure the Covid-19 protocols are followed and masks and sanitisers are available. There is an inventory of 27 items per person, which we kept ready,” said Atulya Mishra, additional chief secretary, Tamil Nadu.

Gagandeep Singh Bedi, principal secretary, agriculture department and nodal officer for Nivar-related works for Cuddalore district, said a lot of awareness was created about the cyclone. Local FM radios were used to spread the message.

Ham radio with high frequency was used to communicate with Chennai, since last-time mobile and technologies did not work. The state administration has asked mobile operators to keep mobile towers in place so that communication can be restored immediately.

For people shifting from low-lying areas to relief camps, sufficient ration was supplied.

In anticipation of a heavy loss to the standing samba paddy crop, as it happened in the case of Cyclone Gaja in 2018, the state agriculture department persuaded farmers to sign up for crop insurance and pay a premium. Nearly 220,000 acres of crops were insured.

PWD officials have been monitoring the water reservoirs 24x7 to ensure flood does not follow. For example, Chembarambakkam Lake in Chennai was opened when its capacity reached 90 per cent. The timely desilting of canals, rivers, lakes, and other water reservoirs has helped the administration to avoid floods.

In Chennai, nearly 1,000 km of storm water drains has been constructed since 2016.

The Chennai Municipal Corporation has deployed a three-wheeled automated tree-cutter machine in several parts of the city. Robotic machines fitted to mini-tractors are used to lift garbage, aquatic weed harvesters to remove weeds from water bodies, and amphibians for desilting canals.

Using technologies

The state has designed and developed the TN Smart app, a web-GIS based support system that combines big data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to assess and alert citizens and authorities about risk.

The software uses satellite imageries and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) data to provide risk analysis during extreme weather events.

TN Smart uses data on rainfall, reservoir levels, etc to predict which areas are at immediate risk of flooding.

Clearly, Cyclone Nivar can be a good example of an effective government machinery, improved coordination among government agencies, and an action plan ahead. Usage of technologies will help to minimise the damage during such calamities.