New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (May 23, 2021) held a meeting with senior government officials and ministers to review the preparations for the approaching Cyclone Yaas. PM Modi directed senior officers to work in close co-ordination with states to ensure the safe evacuation of people from high-risk areas.


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The meeting was also attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, along with senior government officials and representatives from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Secretaries from Telecom, Power, Civil aviation, Earth Sciences Ministries to review preparations against the approaching Cyclone Yaas.


As per the statement issued by the Prime Minister's office, PM Modi also instructed all concerned departments to ensure timely evacuation of those involved in off-shore activities. 


The statement said, "He spoke about the need to ensure that time duration of outages of power supply and communication network are minimum and are restored swiftly. PM also asked officials to ensure proper co-ordination and planning with state governments to ensure no disruptions in Covid treatment and vaccination in hospitals."


"Prime Minister also spoke about the need to involve district administrations in the process of planning and preparedness for better learning from best practices and seamless co-ordination. PM directed officials that advisories and instructions on do’s and dont’s during the cyclone be made available in easy to understand and local language to citizens of the affected districts. PM spoke about the need to involve various stakeholders i.e. coastal communities, industries, etc by directly reaching out to them and sensitising them," the statement added.


Additionally, NDRF is assisting the State agencies in their preparedness for evacuating people from the vulnerable locations and is also continuously holding community awareness campaigns on how to deal with the cyclonic situation. 


Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday (May 22, 2021) said that Cyclone Yaas is likely to intensify into a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ and cross the Odisha and the West Bengal coasts on May 26.



With Odisha and West Bengal bracing for cyclone Yaas, the Indian Army on Saturday (May 22, 2021) informed that it has arranged columns and engineer task forces are on standby for rescue and relief operations.


Besides the Army, Indian Navy apprised of its preparations and said that it has kept four naval ships on standby with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR). 


Also, ahead of Cyclone Yaas, which is likely to make landfall along the Bengal-Odisha coast between May 24 and May 26, the Northern Railway has temporarily cancelled over a dozen trains from the national capital to and from Bhubaneswar and Puri in Odisha.


(With Agency inputs)


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