Central team in Kerala to assess Cyclone Ockhi damages
- A total of 74 persons have been killed and according to the Latin Diocese, more than 250 continue to remain missing.
- The team, consisting of disaster management experts, was led by Vipin Mallik, a top official in the home department.
- While Malik would visit the southern districts, another team would be in Kochi to assess the damages caused in other places.
FollowA central team landed in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday to assess damages caused by Cyclone Ockhi, which struck the southern districts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu on November 30.
A total of 74 persons have been killed and according to the Latin Diocese, more than 250 continue to remain missing. The team, consisting of disaster management experts, was led by Vipin Mallik, a top official in the home department.
While Malik would visit the southern districts, another team would be in Kochi to assess the damages caused in other places like Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram districts. "We will be going around to make our assessment and then we will prepare our report," said Malik to reporters at the airport in Thiruvananthapuram.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the state last week, had assured both the beleaguered fishing community and the Kerala government of prompt relief and rehabilitation assistance.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has sought a Rs 7,340-crore relief package to mitigate the fisher folks' sufferings. It included compensation for the dead; assistance to the permanently disabled and those who suffered injuries; also for construction of homes; educational assistance; writing off loans and other programmes meant for the overall relief for the fisher folks in the state.
The central team was visiting Kerala on the same fateful day 13 years back when a tsunami left 172 persons dead in Kollam and Alappuzha districts.
(With agency inputs)
