KOCHI: The cyclone shelter that will soon be operational at Pallippuram panchayat will benefit three of its neighbouring panchayats — Ezhikkara, Edavanakkad and Kuzhuppilly. The State Disaster Management Authority and the Department of Revenue are jointly setting up the shelter. Only the work of the stretch connecting it to the main road is pending, said panchayat president Ramani Ajayan.
The facility will be inaugurated on May 7 by Revenue Minister K Rajan. “The shelter was a long-pending demand of the residents of this panchayat as well as neighbouring ones. People in this area struggle due to rough sea, whereas the Ezhikkara panchayat faces flash floods. Also the facility coming up at the fifth ward of the panchayat will be ready for opening in a couple of months,” Ramani said.
The three-storey building was build at a cost of `5.17 crore. The cyclone shelter will help people during natural calamities and has facilities including a hall, bathrooms and sickrooms, said the panchayat president. The ground floor has a kitchen, electrical room and generator room.
Apart from the indoor facilities, the Pallippuram shelter also has a rainwater harvesting pit and water tank. The facility has been included in the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) , which aims to reduce vulnerability of coastal areas towards sea erosion and other hydro-meteorological hazards commonly seen in the state. It also imporves the state’s capabality to actively respond to disasters. Sixteen such shelters are being built in nine coastal districts in Kerala currently.
NCRMP is a World Bank-assisted flagship programme implemented by National Disaster Management Authority in eight cyclone prone coastal states in two phases, said the officials at the DDMA.