Deputy Commissioner and CEO LAHDC, Kargil Vikas Kundal today called for strengthening climate information system in the district to devise prompt and timely measures to deal with disaster situations.The DC stated this while chairing a meeting of the members of District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) at Tourist Facilitation Center (TFC) here.Regional Coordinator, India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi and Senior Scientist “F” S.C Bhan, Superintendent of Police Kargil, District Disaster Management Officer Muhammad Shabir, Chief Medical Officer Kargil, Chief Agriculture Officer Kargil and other concerned attended the meeting.During the meeting, Bhan informed about the steps being taken by the IMD to augment the services for weather and climate information system in the district.The DC urged upon the Regional Coordinator, India Meteorological Department (IMD) to expedite the establishment of Compact Severe Weather Detection Radar at Kargil, Automatic Weather Forecast System at Zanskar and system for collection of observation data at Drass. He said that the district administration shall allot required land in this regard. He also underlined the need to establish a manual system of weather monitoring in the district.
As an immediate measure, he stressed upon the Regional Coordinator to provide temperature gauge, wind direction gauge and rain gauge to establish an optimal observational network for accurate monitoring of weather systems in the area.Application of meteorological services in the region with regard to disaster management for the known disasters, cloudburst and flash floods, road blockade due to landslides, snow avalanche, earthquake, drought and other areas of application were discussed threadbare in the meeting.Moreover, other areas of application like agriculture including Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Tourism and Adventure Sports, Transport, Health, Power also came up for discussion.Based on the recommendation of the Regional Coordinator, the DC directed the concerned officers to furnish the data of deaths due to cold and other climatic factors and other relevant data to the IMD to plan measures for early warning system and prevention of frequent disasters leading to losses of lives and property. The DC also directed the concerned to furnish database of farmers in the district for weather forecast information under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa.