Naidu did well, need to do more - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu deserves all the credit for his swift intervention and follow up action on the cyclonic storm Hudhud, which caused heavy destruction and damage in the north coastal Andhra Pradesh but caused minimal loss to human lives.

Despite the winds with a speed of 205 kmph battering Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts, damaging thousands of crores worth property, only 37 deaths were reported so far.

With Hudhud making a landfall in Vizag on Sunday last, Naidu has once again proved his expertise in handling the natural calamities. Having enough experience in handling such a situations way back in 1996, Naidu started monitoring the situation round-the-clock well in advance.

He held video conferences with the district collectors to the low ranking officials in the districts and told them about the preventive measures to be taken. He, time and again, asked the officials to evacuate people on a top priority to the safer places. He asked the officials in the electricity departments to shut down power supply as a precautionary measure.

He alerted all the agencies concerned like the Army, Navy, Disaster Management teams, medical teams, and the police to initiate steps to minimize the human loss. He deputed all his Cabinet ministers to the district concerned and stationed the MLAs and MLCs and other public representatives at every nook and corner of the affected areas.

Naidu worked round-the-clock to ensure fast relief and rehabilitation measures for the victims of Hudhud. He is, now, staying in a bus in Visakhapatnam and overseeing the relief operations. He brought Ministers, bureaucrats, telecom service providers along with him and ordered them to work hard 24x7.

Soon after the Hudhud fury, Naidu who was in touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a regular basis, made the PM pay a visit to the affected areas and undertake an aerial survey. Naidu was able to convince the PM and get an immediate sanction of Rs 1000 crore as relief.

While appreciating Naidu, some sections of people feel that he should have taken other measures to further lower damage caused by the Hudhud: Since the landfall of Hudhud was known three days in advance, he should have asked the district authorities, especially the Visakhapatnam city, to remove all hoardings and other vulnerable structures.

* He should have launched a wide campaign through all available media to alert people on the landfall and request them to store drinking water to last for another three days after the cyclone's landfall.

* Naidu should have mobilized stocks of essential commodities and kept them at various points in the affected districts and mandals well in advance

* He should have mobilized stocks of the essential commodities from within the State and outside and kept them at various points in the affected districts and Mandals. These measures would have reduced the loss to a larger extent and mitigate the miseries of the people affected by the Hudhud.

What Naidu should do now? People have some suggestions:
*Known for his disaster managements skills, Naidu should ask his officials to codify preventive and rehabilitation measures taken. The codified measures should be published as a working manual.

*Naidu should focus on making the long coast line stand up to the future cyclonic storms. He should ask his officials to reformulate a new Design Code for all the structures in the cities, towns and villages along the coast line. The structures should be built to withstand the vagaries of nature.

*The entire canal and water ways system has to be modernized to divert the flood waters and preserve them to utilize for drinking and irrigation purposes.

Since the landfall of Hudhud was known three days in advance, he should have asked the district authorities concerned especially the Visakhapatnam city to remove all the hoardings, tall structures and other vulnerable structures.

He should have launched a wide campaign through all the available media to alert people on the possible impact of the landfall and request them to store drinking water to last for another three days after the cyclone's landfall.

Naidu should have mobilized stocks of the essential commodities from within the State and outside and kept them at various points in the affected districts and mandals well in advance