Was it a small but very serious alleged lapse on the part of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (DMA) that was responsible for the biggest panic in the State in connection with Cyclone Ockhi, necessitating a long and massive rescue operation by several forces in the Arabian SeaIJ
More than 200 fishermen from about six fishing harbours in Thiruvananthapuram and Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district would not have got stranded in the Arabian Sea after cyclone unleashed its fury if the authority had immediately relayed the information it had got from the Central agencies about the weather condition to the concerned departments, it is alleged.
Though the DMA had received the instructions from the Central agencies on the might of the low pressure system that later transformed into Cyclone Ockhi on Wednesday afternoon itself but it took almost 24 hours for it to relay that information to agencies including the police thus denying them the opportunity to warn the fishermen in time.
“We received no warning or alert message from any of the Government agencies,” said a fishermen in Poonthura, Thiruvananthapuram. “If we had got such a message in time, none of them (fishermen) would have gone to sea on Wednesday evening. Even if they chose to go despite warning, they would have stayed within mobile phone range,” he said.
An indirect admission of the lapse came from none other than Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. “We are being asked why alert message was not given. The fact is that the cyclone warning came only at 12.00 O’clock Thursday. Till then there was no cyclone warning. After if we got the message, there has been quick action,” he said.
As per reports from Delhi, the concerned department of the Central Ministry of Shipping had informed the Kerala authority on the weather system at 2.30 PM Wednesday and the warning from the Indian Meteorological Department came at 150 minutes later. Though Ockhi was not yet in picture at that moment, this was enough to alert the DMA, experts say.
Despite the instructions from the Centre, matter was allegedly not reported to the State Revenue Department and the police immediately leading to their inability to forewarn the fishermen, which resulted in their stranding in the outer sea enveloped in cyclonic storm and panic among the fishermen community and the public.
“If at least this information was relayed immediately, the Government could have mobilised the rescue operations early Thursday afternoon itself so that the panic among the fishermen community and the general public could have been controlled and thus their stiff protests on Friday morning could have been avoided,” said an official.
However, sources at the DMA said there had been no lapses on their part. They said the information they had got had immediately been relayed. “The low pressure system had transformed into a cyclone at 11.00 AM Thursday. The warning was issued immediately,” claimed a source.