The Centre has enhanced Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ defence against organic disasters and has place in location a Disaster Management Action Plan. These involve an early warning and communication technique to counter the threat of tsunamis, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai stated on Wednesday.
The technique also consists of 31 GPS robust motion sensors and accelerometer, a state emergency operation centre, an SMS alert dissemination technique, and 13 automated climate stations to ease or mitigate the influence of devastating organic disasters, in particular tsunamis.
The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 was catastrophic for the Islands as the sea gobbled up landmass and stripped Nicobar Island coast off its trees. The island’s mangrove development bore the brunt of the tsunami.
While initial reports recommended a 60 to 70 per cent loss of mangrove cover, a 2018 study revealed that the tsunami had destroyed 97 per cent of the island’s mangrove cover.
The Centre has implemented many projects to market the development of technological and infrastructure advancements in the Union Territory, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs stated.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Rai stated the Chennai Andaman Nicobar Islands Submarine Cable project was amongst the projects that had been lately implemented in the Union Territory. The project, which was completely commissioned in 2020, has enabled a quickly and more trusted broadband and telecom service to be delivered, offering a fillip to tourism, financial activities, and e-governance in the Islands.
Rai added that air connectivity in the Islands has also received a enhance following completion of infrastructure development for civil flights from Shibpur Airport. The central government has also undertaken many other infrastructure development projects to market green power in the Islands. These involve commissioning of a solar energy plant at Attam Pahad in the previous year.