Chennai:
Tamil
Nadu government would be implementing the World Bank backed Coastal
Disaster Risk Reduction Project in the state this year, according to T S
Sridhar, additional chief secretary and commissioner of revenue
administration (Disaster Management and Mitigation) T S Sridhar.
Delivering the guest of honour address during the 3rd
International Search and Rescue Conference organised by the state,
Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and National
Maritime Foundation, Sridhar said that coastal villages will benefit
from the risk mitigation infrastructure which will get created through
the project.
World
Bank has said that 150 villages and over 17,000 families will benefit
from the construction of permanent multi-hazard resilient houses.
Interestingly,
the project worth $236 million was approved by World Bank recently to
increase the resilience of coastal communities to a range of hazards by
enhancing mitigation measures along coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in
India.
A
World Bank statement had said that the coastal population and its
economic assets in the state are prone to multiple hazards including
high frequency and high intensity cyclones, threat of rising sea levels,
storm surges, coastal floods, degradation of mangroves and shelterbelts
and severe depletion of ground water resources. On an average, a
moderate to severe cyclone strikes the Tamil Nadu coast every two years.
Over the past century, 55 cyclones have crossed Tamil Nadu, World Bank
said.
The
project will also build evacuation infrastructure including shelters,
access roads and early warning systems. Disaster management curriculums
for schools and training institutions will help benefit a large
community of school children and trainees.
The
fisheries sector is one of the most vulnerable sectors in the coastal
zone. In order to strengthen the livelihood of the people dependent on
fishing, the project will help upgrade its infrastructure, develop an
approach for co-management of fisheries and address issues related to
safety at sea. The project will also help build the capacity of
government institutions, civil society organizations and vulnerable
communities to deal with disaster risks.
Community
based disaster risk management approach will be used to empower
communities and increase their resilience to natural hazards.
Construction
of about 14,400 multi-hazard resilient permanent houses, which started
under the previous Emergency Tsunami Reconstruction Project, across 11
coastal districts in Tamil Nadu, will be completed under this project.
It will also construct about 120 multipurpose evacuation shelters and
install about 440 early warning systems along with evacuation routes
with signages. In addition, about 1,000 km of overhead electrical
network will be replaced with underground cables to minimize the damages
from cyclones and floods.
The
project will be financed by a credit from the International Development
Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm – which
provides interest-free loans with 25 years to maturity and a grace
period of five years
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