State launches first-of-its-kind upgraded temporary disaster management shelter
State Disaster Management and Civil Defence minister Javed Ahmed Khan on Tuesday launched the first-of-its-kind model schoolbased upgraded temporary disaster shelter at the remote Kumirmari Island of Gosaba Block in the Sunderbans.
“We have around 550 multipurpose disaster shelters in Bengal. Apart from these shelters, the local schools also play a key role in the Sunderbans by acting as a temporary shelter for the evacuated people during disaster. The upgradation of such model schools in the form of providing adequate security, safety and convenience to the local community is a welcome step and the state government is ready to support such an initiative,” Khan said.
Kumirmari Narendrapur Primary School will be provided with emergency support materials and infrastructure, including generator, emergency lights, battery-operated mobile charging systems,
wheelchairs, stretchers, medical box, set ups for people with illness, elderly, pregnant women, newborns, improved toilet facilities.
The cost will be around Rs 3 lakh with the model being executed by Environment Governed Integrated Organisation (EnGIO) with CSR support from Haldia Petrochemical Ltd.
Senior officials of the local Panchayat who attended the launch programme were asked to set up a local community group to promote climate and disaster awareness as well as map the vulnerable individuals and families so that they may be evacuated during disasters at the earliest.
The population of Kumirmari is around 20,000.
According to various scientific reports, the Sunderbans, a combination of 100 odd islands and nearly 5 million people, is
one of the hotbeds of natural disasters at the global level. A World Bank report says that around one-fourth of the Sunderbans population, nearly 1.2 million, is at risk as the Sunderbans have been receiving both immediate and long term impacts of climate change at an extremely high intensity.
There have been a series of extremely severe cyclones in recent times including Amphah, Yaas and Bulbul affecting both lives and livelihoods.