Andhra Pradesh chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, directed the officials to ensure all rescue and relief operations were in place in coastal districts after an alert has been sounded for Cyclone Hudhud. The cyclone is expected to cross the Bay of Bengal coast on October 12 between Visakhapatnam in AP and Gopalpur in Odisha.
In a video-conference with officials from different districts on Thursday, the chief minister reviewed the preparedness of the state in disaster management. He asked the collectors of all coastal districts to take measures to prevent loss of life and ensure that damage to properties, if any, was minimal.
He said the Central government was sending four National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams to the state to undertake relief operations. Army and Air Force officials, too, have come forward to help the state.
According to an official press release, Naidu asked the collectors and officials to set up relief camps and evacuate people from areas which have cyclone threat. He had also directed them to stock up essential commodities for relief camps and ensure the affected were provided food. He advised the officials to ensure that health camps have continuous power supply.
Cyclone Hudhud is currently lying centered about 720 kilometre southeast of Visakhapatnam. Nearly 350 coastal villages in Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and East Godavari districts have been identified for evacuation of villagers. District administrations are likely to shift most of these villagers to rehabilitation centres from October 10.
The chief minister informed that BSNL and Airtel have come forward to send continuous updates to people about the cyclone threat. SMSes would be sent in Telugu to people. This apart, officials have been directed to give updates about the cyclone through All India Radio (AIR).
Chief secretary, IYR Krishna Rao, said holidays of the state government employees for the weekend would be cancelled as they were expected to take part in the relief measures. A senior IAS officer, Arvind Kumar, would be deputed to Visakhapatnam to coordinate with NDRF’s operations and monitor rescue and relief efforts.
