Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Saturday said that in view of cyclone Tauktae (pronounced Tau’te), eight relief camps have been set up in three coastal districts that can accommodate around 10,000 people, where food and other basic amenities will be made available to them. Ashoka, who had chaired the meeting along with Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, the state disaster management team and officials, said, "District administrations and police departments are on alert. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams are also on alert and will come to the rescue of people."
Cyclone Tauktae (pronounced Tau’te) intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm on the morning of Sunday, May 16 and parts of Karnataka are set to witness heavy rains. Karnataka (coastal and adjoining Ghat districts) will see light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places on May 16.
Ashoka, who is also Vice-Chairman of Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority, said that a total of about Rs 95 crore is reserved with the district administrations for utilisation to mitigate the situation arising out of the cyclone Tauktae and come to the rescue of people in need.
"Udupi has Rs 23 crore, Uttara Kannada Rs 60 crore and Dakshina Kannada Rs 12 crore," he added. While Karnataka's Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the cyclone Tauktae is likely to gain intensity by Saturday evening or night in the coastal areas, and as a result, the three coastal districts — Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada will likely receive heavy rains. He said that heavy rains are expected in coastal and neighbouring four to five districts like Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Shivamogga, Kodagu and the effect of this cyclone is expected to be there till May 18.
The Home Minister also added that all the necessary equipment that was procured recently and boats and vehicles have been deployed to tackle the situation.
"Around 1,000 trained personnel from fire force, police, coastal police, home guards, SDRF have been deployed in the three coastal districts and they will work with coordination in rescue and relief operations. A total of 434 men are there under SDRF, Bengaluru and Kalaburagi teams are being sent to Udupi and Mangaluru," he added.
Both the Ministers underlined that if the situation warrants, the state has drawn up elaborate plans to rope in the services of ex-servicemen for rescue operations. Bommai said that there was a need for extra precautionary measures as if the adjoining areas of the western ghat region receives heavy to extreme rainfall then there is all possibility of landslides.
"For the last two years, coffee plantation districts — Kodagu and Chikkamagluru — have witnessed landslides, therefore we have requested two more additional teams of NDRF to handle these kinds of eventualities," he added.