Pathanamthitta draws up plan to prevent disaster damage

Faced with back-to-back floods and other weather-related disasters since the devastating deluge of 2018, the district administration is now drawing up a first-of-its-kind resilience plan to map disaster hotspots and put preventive measures in place before the next crisis strikes.

The initiative, aimed at shifting the focus from post-disaster relief to advance risk reduction, follows Chief Minister V.D Satheesan announcement during his visit to the district earlier this month to assess rain-related damage. District Collector A Nizamudeen on Thursday convened district-level officers from various departments to work out a scientific, area-specific plan.

A key focus will be strengthening early warning and public alert systems, particularly downstream of dams and along flood-prone stretches of rivers. The administration also plans to strengthen its database of households in vulnerable areas and map flood-prone zones based on varying levels of risk under different rainfall and flood scenarios.