India to buy Hercules C-130J, UAV for cyclone forecast

India will acquire a Hercules C-130J and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to monitor cyclone behaviour and reduce errors to the extent of 30 percent in terms of landfall, intensity and storm surge, said NDMA, vice chairman, Shashidhar Reddy today in New Delhi. Reddy said India already has an efficient response mechanism in place.[caption id=“attachment_228188” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Vice chairman, National Disaster Management Authority, M. Shashidhar Reddy. Image courtesy PIB”]  [/caption] “There was a evacuation of more than 6.5 lakhs people when a cyclone hit in Andhra Pradesh in 1990 which was till date the highest ever human evacuation in the context of the natural disaster,” the NDMA vice chairman said during his meeting with a delegation from Madagascar. Reddy said that NDMA has decided to separate urban flooding as a separate disaster de-linking it from floods affecting rural area. “The NDMA is implementing the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project in 13 cyclone prone coastal states/UTs with a view to address the cyclone risks in the country,” he said. The Indian government is also collaborating with the World Bank to tackle cyclone risks and towards conservation of coastal eco systems. “The first phase of the project is being implemented in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha at the cost of Rs 1496.71 crore,” Reddy said.