No report of epidemics in Uttarakhand: NDMA

All necessary precautions are taken to prevent an outbreak of epidemics in the flood-hit Uttarakhand and as of now there is no report of any kind of disease spreading, a senior disaster management official said Friday.

"We have not received report on any kind of epidemic," said National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vice chairman M.Shashidhar Reddy.

"As a preventive measure, bleaching powder, chlorine tablets are dispatched to various places to sanitise places...whereever it is required. About 50 doctors are on stand-by, they will reach the local villages, and some of them might stay there for two to three months," Reddy said.

According to NDMA, of the 20,000 villages in Uttarakhand, 2,395 villages are affected in one form or another by the calamity, and while 1,636 villages have been connected, 759 villages are yet to be reached.

"As the restoration of roads will take longer, the Border Road Organisation (BRO) has been told at least to provide new walking tracks or footpaths so the supplies can be carried and they can be transited to the villages which can be accessed," Reddy said.

Talking about the accumulated debris, Reddy said: "We are in the process of making an assessment of the total debris that has accumulated and to bring it to the original levels. Machines to clear the debris will be taken in MI-29 helicopters."

He also said that National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will provide supplementary manpower, along with some equipment, to the local administration for the clearing the rubble and the debris.

The incessant and intense rains that hit Uttarakhand over three days from June 14, causing flash floods and landslides, have led to hundreds of deaths, while many are missing. There were thousands of pilgrims in Badrinath and Kedarnath areas when the tragedy struck the region.