Nagaland: 3 deaths; 345 houses damaged due to hydrometeorological calamities

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Aug. 2 (EMN): Three lives were lost and 345 houses and huts damaged due to hydrometeorological calamities in Nagaland during the year 2022-23 (as on July 12, 2022), as per a report by the Disaster Management division (Ministry of Home Affairs).

The data revealed that 0.003 lakh hectare of crop area was also affected in the state this year, as on July 12, 2022.

This was stated by the Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on August 1.

The data showed that Assam was the most affected state in the North Eastern Region (NER) due to natural calamities with 182 human lives lost, 53,781 livestocks lost, 2,23,663 houses and huts damaged and 2.401 lakh hectare of crop area affected. Meanwhile, Mizoram reported no damages by natural calamities.

Reddy shared that the flood management comes under the purview of the state government, and the schemes for flood control and others are formulated and implemented by concerned states. The union government supplements the efforts of the state, including the states of NER by providing technical guidance, financial  resources and assistance for management of floods in critical areas.

He also highlighted that in 2017, government of India through DoNER had extended one-time financial assistance of INR 200 crore to five NER states (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland) for re-building the totally washed away or damaged infrastructure during floods in 2017.

He also stated that central assistance of INR 139.91 crore has been released to the states of NER for anti-erosion and flood control activities and prevention of landslides during last five years (FY 2017-18 to FY 2021-22) under the schemes of North Eastern Council, including INR 22.73 crore for Meghalaya.

He also stated that the government had implemented a plan called Flood Management Programme (FMP) for providing central assistance to states including NER states for works related to river management, flood control, erosion control, drainage development, etc. which subsequently continued as a component of "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme" (FMBAP) for the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21 and further extended up to September 2022.

Central Water Commission (CWC) is the nodal organisation entrusted with the task of flood forecasting and early flood warnings in the country. The North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC), an institution established under the joint initiative of Department of Space and North Eastern Council (NEC), uses satellite data for developing early warning system on natural calamities like floods, he added.