During the ongoing Southeast Asia regional meet in New Delhi, WHO has applauded India for its preparedness in tackling health emergencies during cyclone Fani that hit Odisha in May.
“Without such a system of early warning and evacuation, the loss of life and damage to infrastructure could have been devastating. All this is an outcome of emergency preparedness, community capacity-building and more than 20 years of investment in risk management,” the UN agency said in a Regional Committee document tabled during a ministerial roundtable.
The week-long meeting is attended by around 160 delegates including health ministers and experts from 11 member countries of WHO SEAR to deliberate on priority public health issues and further build on the momentum of disease eliminations and progress achieved in recent years.
The health minister Harsh Vardhan said accurate weather prediction, effective early warnings, sturdy preparedness for timely evacuation of nearly 1.15 million people to 6575 cyclone shelters, combined with other risk mitigation measures helped save many human lives during cyclone Fani.