SHILLONG, APR 27: Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Lahkmen Rymbui has said Meghalaya is fully prepared to handle any kind of disaster related eventualities and has directed all district administrations to remain on full alert.

“The government of Meghalaya and disaster management team are well equipped to handle all situations and more importantly, as we know now with the help of technology we can predict beforehand,” Rymbui told reporters on Monday

He said that while he did not have the latest situation report from across the state, response teams have been activated.

“The team, whether from the SDO or DC office across the state of Meghalaya have been alerted to attend to any situation that arises,” he said.

“Let us hope that the situation — it is not guaranteed — but all disaster management teams are on standby.”

Rymbui stressed that disaster response is decentralised and district authorities are empowered to act independently.

“The district magistrate is fully empowered as chairman of disaster management to look into issues related to the district. So it is not for us at the state level to see those things,” he said.

“The disaster management rules have also empowered the district magistrates to do everything what is needful,” he added.

On manpower and resources, the minister said the state has adequate capacity. “We are well equipped, whether it is the manpower, because disaster management is not only from the government. We are very happy that people are fully cooperating and we have teams from home guards, from the police, and from the fire service and all these teams are on alert,” he said.

“Most importantly, I am happy that the people of Meghalaya are very cooperative with the agencies in tackling any eventualities,” Rymbui added.

Clarifying that disaster management goes beyond weather events, he said, “When we talk about disaster, it is not only because of rain. When we manage disaster, we have to see whether this wall or hill is stable or not, whether through deforestation it affects the management of the disaster works — it is a combination of everything.”

“When we talk about disaster it is not only about rain, it is not only about earthquake or anything as there are also man-made disasters or accidents which can happen,” he said.

On funding and response timelines, Rymbui reiterated the decentralised approach. “As I have told you, I don’t have the records but the deputy commissioner is fully equipped to tackle… if there is fund shortfall, they can always write to the state so that necessary action will be done,” he said.

“To manage disaster is not a centralized one but we have decentralized everything to see that they can attend immediately to affected people,” the minister added.

Also Read: Meghalaya to anchor community-led conservation push under new ₹40-Crore Biodiversity Project

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