Manipur submits quake, storm impact report

IMPHAL, July 28: Manipur government has submitted the earthquake assessment report along with the recent reports on impact of hailstorm besides 2015 flood in the state, to the centre,according to official sources. The report also sought a financial assistance of Rs 279.30 for the January 4 earthquake and Rs 37.62 crores for the devastating hailstorm that took place in April-May this year.
Conveying this, Secretary Jason A Shimray of Department of Relief & Disaster Management department said, the reports which include an assessment report seeking a separate aid of Rs 477.45 crores for Manipur flood in July-August last year,were submitted to the central authority and waiting their response.
The earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, jolted Manipur in the early hours of January 4, leaving ten persons dead, 120 wounded and altogether 3218 buildings (consisting of both government and private) including the three iconic women market complexes in the heart of Imphal town.
A four-member team of experts constituted by the government had inspected the damage sites and recommended retrofitting of the structures.For this the state Public Works Department authority is consulting the experts teams from outside the state including IIT Guwahati and awaiting further steps.
The state government had announced Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and promised financial assistance to the injured.Sources said Tamenglong and Senapati districts were the worst affected. Imphal West, where the main shopping complexes and government buildings are located, was badly hit.
The state also experienced the devastating impact of hailstorm/thunderstorm recently in April-May 2016 in which more than 15000 houses are reported to have been damaged as per reports submitted by the Deputy Commissioner concerned of the district, Shimray added.To meet the urgent requirement of the Deputy Commissioners during relief operations, providing relief materials, ex-gratia payment and reconstruction of the fully and partially damage private houses, a sum of Rs.14.41 crore has been released to the Deputy Commissioners of the districts.
The Prime Minister of India has also released a sum of Rs. 30.50 lakhs being ex-gratia payment to the families of deceased persons and seriously injured persons.
It may be mentioned that Manipur’s annual paddy production was declined compared to the previous year as about 33,421 hectares of paddy fields out of 1,95,000 hectares were ravaged by July flood in 2015. Last year, the productivity of rice was achieved with 2,640 kg/hectare against the National average of 2,177kg/hectare.