Activists flag Tamil Nadu government's 'ill-preparedness' to handle heatwave threat
Even as the mercury level in several parts of the state hovered around 40 degree Celsius over the past few days, the Met department allayed fears of an imminent heatwave threat for Tamil Nadu. Activists, however, decry the state government’s lack of preparedness in the event of a heatwave.
According to the Heat Wave Action Plan - 2019 formulated by the state government, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in every district has to take various preparatory measures with heatwave alerts. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) defines a heatwave as a situation when the normal maximum temperature of a station is more than 40 degree Celsius in the plains and above 30 degree Celsius in hilly regions, and when the maximum temperature remains higher than usual by three degrees for three consecutive days.
In this situation, places like Erode, Tiruchy, Karur and Vellore recorded temperatures one to four degree Celsius above normal over the past few days, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai. Tiruchy City recorded 40.1 degree Celsius, 40.3 degree Celsius and 40 degree Celsius on Thursday, Friday and Saturday respectively. Mild showers on Sunday brought down the maximum temperature to 39.9 degree Celsius.
While the Heat Wave Action Plan of 2019 lists out short-, medium- and long-term measures, including educating the most vulnerable sections of the society like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers, rescheduling work hours to escape intense heat, building temporary shelters and increasing green cover, an official with the Tiruchy unit of the disaster management authority said that no such preventive steps have been taken at the district level.
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