‘Toll could have been less had there been an alert’

LUCKNOW : The state government on Friday raised the issue of nonavailability of alert from the meteorological department on the devastating dust storm that hit the state at the meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) held in Delhi.

Resident commissioner of UP told the NDMA officers that the state should have been given pinpointed alerts regarding the storm so that effective mitigation mechanism could have been put in place to check the loss of life and property.

Talking to HT, relief commissioner Sanjay Kumar said the high velocity dust storm hit Agra and other districts in the night when the people were sleeping. “Majority of the deaths were due to wall collapse, uprooting of trees and electric poles that fell on the houses.

We would have sounded an alert had the state government received warning about the deadly storm. People would have been told to move out of the house and to not take shelter under trees.

The district administration would have also evacuated the people and shifted them to safe spots to check loss of life,” he said. Seventy-five people were killed and 87 injured after the high

intensity dust storm ravaged various districts in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday night. Agra was worst hit with 48 deaths. Death of 331 cattleheads was also reported.

Kumar said the district magistrates of all the districts and other officers concerned had been alerted as the met office had forecast more dust storms in coming days. They had been told to take measures to check loss of life, restore power supply and gear up the hospitals for any emergencies, he said.

Kumar said the State Disaster Management Department was raising ‘aapda mitra’ (disaster friends) squads in 32 disaster prone districts that faced annual floods. The squads, consisting of 200 volunteers, had been raised in Gorakhpur and Ballia districts.