'Surat needs better disaster management facilities'

In a workshop on disaster management, held here on Tuesday, municipal commissioner Pankaj Joshi, said, "Disaster management is a must for all places to check or minimise the impact of any manmade or natural disaster, like in the case of the Sabarmati Express mishap, wherein the administration jumped into action, and managed to save a lot of lives."

"Disaster management is all the more necessary in a city like Surat, which is highly flood-prone and suffered loss of more than Rs 1,000 crore because of the floods in the last year.

"Many industries, including several chemical units are situated in and around Surat, and there is always a possibility of a major industrial mishap. To tackle such disasters, a proper disaster management is very much a must," he said.

"Realising the importance of disaster management, the Surat Municipal Corporation has acquired latest equipment and machinery, and has also trained its staff to face contingencies. A full-fledged emergency response centre, setup by the state government is also operational in Surat," he said.