The State Government would provide fifteen satellite phones for all the district headquarters as well as tribal subdivisions of Kaza, Pangi and Bharmour of the state in order to strengthen communication network for effective communication, particularly at the time of disaster and other emergency conditions.This was stated by the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur while launching the redesign and redeveloped website http://www.hpsdma.nic.in of Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority at Vidhan Sabha Complex at Dharamshala today.The Chief Minister said that it has been usually felt that during the natural calamity such as landslide, avalanche, snow and earthquake, the normal mode of communication gets disrupted and lack of communication is a biggest hurdle in relief and rehabilitation. He said that the satellite phones would prove a boon for effective communication for carrying out relief and rehabilitation work at the time of natural calamity.Jai Ram Thakur said that the website contains information about relief and relief norms, which would prove quite useful to the general public.The website would prove very informative and exhaustive for the general public as well as administration as it contains extensive information on hazard profile of the state, and status of current vulnerability and detailed hazard, risk and vulnerability analysis, he added.While congratulating the officers of the authority for their endeavours, Chief Minister said that the website would provide seamless experience to the visitors while navigating the site and educate them about disaster management activities and safeguards.
He said that the information on this site has been structured in a user-friendly manner with captivating pictures highlighting the theme of the HP SDMA.Additional Chief Secretary Revenue Manisha Nanda said the website gives details about the ongoing programmes for capacity building and new schemes launched by the state on “Hospital Safety”; “Building a Cadre of Volunteers for Disaster Risk Reduction”; “Securing Lifeline Buildings”; and “Training and Capacity Building of Masons, Carpenter and Bar Benders at Panchayat Level”, etc.She said that the profiles of trained personnel and resource persons/experts/master trainers have been put in the website so that their services can be utilized by all concerned. She said that the unique feature of the website is that it has been designed in hindi also to cater to the needs of the hindi language readers.While highlighting the salient features of the website, Special Secretary Revenue D.C. Rana said that separate corners for citizens and NGOs have been dedicated to involve voluntary sectors for disaster management in the state. He said that in order to do this a separate platform namely, Inter Agency Group (IAG) has been created and integrated with this website to facilitate their registration and entry. He said that the website also contains safety tips for various hazards and safe construction practices. The resource list contains list of helipads district wise with geo-coordinates, telephone directory of government offices/officials, etc has also been included in the website, he added.Transport and Forests Minister Govind Thakur, Chief Secretary B.K. Agarwal and other senior officers were present on the occasion among others.