Thursday, August 6, 2009

Need for disaster management plan

 STED Project is preparing a plan for Kozhikode. Biju Govind says this has attained importance after the July flooding in the district.The flooding and other calamities that befell Kozhikode during the heavy rain in July call for a disaster management plan for the district. Although the Centre had enacted the Disaster Management Act in 2005 and asked the State governments to set up disaster management units, only a few have done so. The Kerala government entrusted preparation of disaster management plans to the district administrations in January 2009. People believe that casualties and damage to property can be minimised with such a plan. After having experienced flooding year after year, the district administration is now in the process of formulating a district disaster management plan.The Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development (STED) Project has been entrusted with the task.It has drafted a proposal by making a geo-demographical profile detailing housing patterns, roads, means of transport, hospitals and government and private services available in the district.In consultation with various departments, including that of geology, the project officials will record the hazards the district had witnessed.They will do an analysis of the worst cases and find the areas vulnerable to natural calamities.Such steps will help the district administration take preventive measures, says Mohanan Manalil, project director.There will be a non-structural disaster mitigation plan focussing on preparedness methodology, awareness campaign, disaster recovery inventory and enforcing existing codes and laws. The structural mitigation measures include retrofitting and earthquake-resistant constructions, he says.The management plan will concentrate on short- and long-term responses. The short-term plan centres on rescue operations, relief operations and rehabilitation, while the long-term plan emphasises action plans for the departments of Police, Fire and Rescue Services, Revenue, Irrigation, Education, Health Service, Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Public Works, the Kerala State Electricity Board, the Red Cross, the National Cadet Corps and the Scouts.

 

The Hindu, 1st August 2009 

posted by ENVIS Kerala at 8/06/2009 03:45:00 AM | Subscribe

Mosquitoes deliver malaria 'vaccine' through bites

In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites. The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not, and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later. Mosquitoes deliver malaria 'vaccine' through bites The study was only a small proof-of-principle test, and its approach is not practical on a large scale. However, it shows that scientists may finally be on the right track to developing an effective vaccine against one of mankind's top killers. A vaccine that uses modified live parasites just entered human testing.Malaria kills nearly a million people each year, mostly children under 5 and especially in Africa. Infected mosquitoes inject immature malaria parasites into the skin when they bite; these travel to the liver where they mature and multiply. From there, they enter the bloodstream and attack red blood cells - the phase that makes people sick.People can develop immunity to malaria if exposed to it many times. The drug chloroquine can kill parasites in the final bloodstream phase, when they are most dangerous.Scientists tried to take advantage of these two factors, by using chloroquine to protect people while gradually exposing them to malaria parasites and letting immunity develop.

 

The Business Line 31st July 2009

posted by ENVIS Kerala at 8/06/2009 03:44:00 AM | Subscribe

Wildlife Act to be amended: Jairam

Forest preservation, curbing poachers and relocation of forest-dwellers were the three major challenges before the government, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said. The Minister said amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act were on the anvil to deter poachers further and for anti-wildlife smuggling activities."We are in talks with the concerned stakeholders to bring comprehensive changes in the Act and also in the process to strengthen Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to develop intelligence," he said. Long judicial procedures and paltry sums as penalty do not help curb this problem.With the help of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General of India and other judiciary members, efforts would be made to introduce heavy fines and sections like attaching property. Mr. Ramesh said the States had got over Rs. 11,000 crore for protection and restoration of natural forest cover under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) Fund. The fund offers a unique and historic opportunity to invest in forests exclusively since the word 'plantation' did not figure in the guidelines. In the next six years, 6 million hectares of land will be brought under green cover, providing one of the largest carbon sinks in the world.On the relocation of close to 80,000 families living inside the core areas of protected forests, he said they had been offered Rs.10 lakh or a piece of land as a compensation package to move out of the reserves.

 

The Hindu, 29th July 2009 

posted by ENVIS Kerala at 8/06/2009 03:42:00 AM | Subscribe