Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Dec 2: Responding to a series of supplementary questions in the Lok Sabha today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is providing regular rain forecast for Chennai and other affected areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Ever since the current spate of heavy rainfall began in these States, he said, regular forecast inputs based on satellite images are being communicated to all concerned Departments and are also put up on Space Department’s “BHUVAN” portal.
Beginning from the second week of November, Dr Jitendra Singh said, regular forecasts have been put out, and so much so, that the rainfall which is taking place today, that is on 2nd December, was also predicted 72 hours ago wherein it was also mentioned that the quantum of rainfall would be around 175 millimeter in three hours. The images before and after the effect of rainfall in areas suffering major loss have also been put up, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh referred to the “Flood Early Warning System” (FEWS) developed by ISRO, initially in collaboration with the Assam State Disaster Management Authority. It has proved highly successful in 25 districts of the State which are regularly affected by floods, he said. Encouraged by the success of this project, the same mechanism is now being extended for use in other States, including Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, he added.
Elaborating further, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the FEWS project combines the inputs of satellite images with the inputs from Doppler Radar which helps in making forecast with a higher accuracy. Further, the flood forecast methodology developed by the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of ISRO is, in turn, transferred to Central Water Commission also, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the issue of managing rainfall and floods is too serious to be left to a single Department or a Ministry alone, and therefore, it is accomplished through synergism of a number of Departments and Ministries, including the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the nodal Ministry with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under it, Department of Space Technology/ISRO, Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources. With the passage of time, the number of alerts issued and the percentage of 100 per cent accuracy is also on the rise, he added.
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