Rajahmundry: Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority is set to adopt a district disaster management plan prepared in East Godavari as a model and would recommend other districts in the state to implement the same with any necessary changes that suit local needs.
East Godavari administration prepared a plan to manage three disasters even if they occur simultaneously with quick response to help save the lives of vulnerable people and minimise the extent of damage to property.
The district has a huge network of underground pipelines that transport natural gas or crude oil from their sources of origin to storage or processing facilities. Some pipelines transport gas to meet industrial needs. People living in areas with a high density of network of pipelines are seen as vulnerable to any likely mishap, be it due to leak of gas or oil or something more.
Even a spark from any source could result in a major fire incident. An inquiry report by the Union ministry of petroleum and gas concluded that the June 27, 2014 gas pipeline explosion at Nagaram village of East Godavari involving the Gas Authority of India Limited and claimed 22 lives was the result of inadequate systems and approach to ensure safety in their operations.
People from Godavari and Krishna districts regularly experience minor gas or crude oil leaks from pipelines mainly from ONGC installations. There are major industrial units in the district which store ammonia or other chemicals. An industrial unit dealing with fertilisers located at Kakinada has nearly 32,000 metric tonnes of ammonia stored at any time while another unit there manufacturing fertilisers has 7,000 metric tonnes of ammonia stored. Several other industrial units and aqua industry firms store dangerous chemicals for varied purposes in their plants.
Thirdly, East Godavari is the main transit route between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. A large number of fuel tankers transporting products like petrol, diesel, highly inflammable chemicals and cooking gas in large quantities regularly pass through the area.
Incidents of mishaps like overturning of tankers transporting gas or fuel or highly inflammable chemicals on the national and state highways are frequently reported that put commuters and others at risk. Taking into consideration the three potentially dangerous situations, the East Godavari district administration roped in officials from departments like revenue, police, transport, factories, explosives, pollution control board, industries, NDRF, SDRF, fire and others.
They have managed to come up with a district level disaster management plan assuming that all three dangerous situations could crop up at the same time and planned necessary steps to be initiated asn quick response to minimise the extent of damage or loss and to save the lives of people.
A senior official from the factories department said, "AP SDMA authorities are impressed by East Godavari's district disaster management plan developed recently as it has quick response measures to tackle three major incidents occurring simultaneously. They are going to adopt our plan and recommend it to other districts to implement it to tackle disasters in a better way."
