Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), a wing of the ISRO, has been helping the government in flood control through space technology. Addressing an event on the Foundation Day of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Shah said that a big new experiment has been initiated in the Northeast where a society has been formed to harness space science through the NESAC, which was set up by the Department of Space and the North Eastern Council.
"We have started using the space technology in disaster management by doing advance planning from last year," he said. The home minister said in the Northeast, the Brahmaputra is often flooded, but the topography there is such that it is very easy to transfer the water of the river to a lake of thousands of hectares before it floods.
He said if a lake can be built, the chances of flooding will be reduced by 40 per cent. "The NESAC is working to find such type of location and it has also been successful. So far, 19 locations have been found, where big lakes will be built and energy will not be used to send water there as water will reach through topography. This is a new beginning and we have taken it one step further," he said.
The NESAC helps augment the developmental process in the Northeast by providing advanced space technology support. The home minister said after Narendra Modi became the prime minister, the winds of development have come to the Northeast and many roads are being built, because without connectivity the development of the region is not possible.
"But these roads and rail tracks also stop the natural flow of the water and with the help of satellites, we have accurately marked the natural flow of water where the roads and railways are being built, so that the system of water going under the road is made in advance," he said. Shah said satellites have also been used for flood mapping in road and railway construction.
The home minister said out of the 36 states and union territories of the country, 27 are severe disaster prone and 58 per cent of the land area is prone to ??moderate to very high intensity of earthquakes, 12 per cent is flood prone area where river flows through erosion. He said about 7,516 km of coastline is marked by cyclone vulnerabilities, 68 per cent of the arable area is prone to drought every third year and around 15 per cent of the land in mountains is prone to landslides.
About 5,161 urban units are prone to floods and at such times disaster management in the country is a huge responsibility, he said.
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