Sunday, Dec 12, 2004
Sunday, Dec 12, 2004 |
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Vijayawada
By Our Staff Reporter
VIJAYAWADA, DEC. 11. How prepared is Vijayawada to withstand an earthquake or any disaster for that matter? Going by the indifference of the elected representatives, the city seems to be a member of the `Latur Club' in its preparedness to deal with even the smallest disaster, let alone a big earthquake. "The toll at Latur could have been a lot less, but for the lack of awareness. Even officials could not perform out of fear," says the Urban Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction Programme project officer, Vedula Sridhar. Vijayawada is the only city in the State to be selected for the Government of India-UNDP Disaster Risk Management Programme (DRM). It is also located on the banks of a major river with a reservoir. Are the elected members putting the entire population of the city at risk with their indifference? Yes, says the disaster risk management expert.
All-women audience
Only three out of the 58-member general body of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) attended the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sponsored meeting held to sensitise corporators on earthquake mitigation and preparedness. Interestingly, all three of them belonged to the fairer sex. The only male counterpart who came to the Municipal Corporation office to attend the meeting vanished from the scene when he discovered that he was the only male around. People of third municipal division were represented by their corporator, Narindi Lakshmi, and those of 27th division were represented by their corporator, Avanigadda Sunitha. The former Congress corporator and co-opted members of the general body, Burri Samadhanam, also graced the occasion with her presence. The Mayor, Panchumarthi Anuradha, who was conspicuous by her absence reportedly excused herself with a pretext of being `very busy.'
Enthusiasm lauded
The Municipal Commissioner, V. Usha Rani, attended the meeting even though it lacked quorum and lauded the enthusiasm of the woman corporators. The lack of an audience did not dampen the zeal of Mr. Sridhar. He grabbed an opportunity to explain to the scribes who turned up in strength the important role the corporators would had to play in preparing DRM plans. The corporators had a key role in preparing various maps (like social, hazard, vulnerability and resource inventory maps) and constituting more than a dozen teams like rescue or evacuation, patrolling, clearing, first aid, trauma counselling, water supply, sanitation, damage assessment, shelter management and carcass disposal teams, he said.
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