KOCHI: The state government has sanctioned funds to the disaster management department to avail services of private weather forecasting agencies Skymet, Earth Networks and IBM Weather Company to ensure accurate information on weather events. Though the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) had sought permission to avail of services from four private agencies, private forecaster Windy does not figure in the list of companies. An amount of `95,64,964 has been sanctioned from the disaster response fund for the purpose.
“Windy has not been included as they did not respond to our communication. We considered Windy as they provide unique visualisation,” KSDMA member secretary Sekhar Kuriakose told TNIE. “We are going to use the data sourced from these agencies for internal analysis. A committee will examine the data and decide on its perusal. We will examine whether this data will be helpful in further improving our services. IMD will continue to be our primary source of information. However there are certain areas that we need to improve for which the data will be used,” he said.
Sekhar Kuriakose clarified that the decision to avail services of private agencies has nothing to do with what IMD provides and what the department does not provide. The KSDMA had requested IMD to increase the number of weather stations in the state after the 2018 floods. “We have provided them 100 sites to establish weather stations. If they improve the network and improve their services, we will be happy,” he said.