CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin, on Monday, while addressing the State Disaster Management Authoritiy, urged the officials to make disaster management in the State a “peoples’ movement” to tackle disasters effectively. During his address, Stalin stated that the objective of the State government during a disaster is to reduce the damage of public properties, infrastructures, and human lives and requested the authorities from State and district-level to work together to achieve the goal.
The CM said the people should also take responsibility of the disasters, since in the recent days, they were not only caused by the nature. Humans should act according to the climate since the climatic conditions are not stable in current days. Highlighting the need for a scheme to protect Chennai from floods, he said a permanent project should be prepared to strengthen the bunds by removing encroachments. He requested to take disaster preventive measures to protect Cuddalore since the district is flood-prone.
Speaking on the damages caused by disasters, he said during the disasters, the poor are vulnerable in urban areas while it is the farmers in rural areas. He added that the goal of the government is to protect them and compensate for their losses and make ways for their rehabilitation.Elaborating on disaster management, the Chief Minister said disaster mitigation activities should be carried out with the participation of the general public and that disaster management should be made as a peoples’ movement by enhancing the skills of the people.
To create awareness on disasters, steps are to be taken to take the messages regarding disasters out to the public. He urged to ensure the safety of waterbody passages and uninterrupted supply of power to hospitals during the time of disasters. He further assured that he will extend his full support to take all precautionary steps to mitigate the impact of the disasters and underlined that the government’s goal is to protect the people.