“Sir I am interested to join Indian Meteorological Department. I want to do something for my country. Sir, please tell me how can I join the department.”
Among all the messages that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) got on Sunday for correctly forecasting the very severe cyclone Hudhud, this two line e-mail from an engineering student Kumar Harsh stood out for the tired scientists at IMD. After successfully forecasting and co-ordinating with dozens of departments and agencies, IMD DG LS Rathore during a conversation with dna described this email as the best praise his department could get. “Work in IMD is a highly technical job and not a very glamorous one. We got this email and a call from another student expressing their wish to join us … What can be a better certificate for our work,” said a visibly tired Rathore.
Rathore, who has been working for the last 34 years, said it rare for IMD to receive such adulation especially from youngsters.
The IMD DG, his scientists at the IMD headquarters in New Delhi and observatories across India, especially, eastern and southern coast, worked round-the-clock to correctly forecast range and magnitude of Hudhud. “Around 500 people including scientists and support staff worked day and night to ensure that our forecast doesn’t go wrong anywhere. Not just forecasting, disseminating information quickly from highest to the lowest possible level of administration is also an important task,” added Rathore.
A control room at IMD’s headquarters had been the nerve centre for the whole operation for the last four days. Led by cyclone warning division head of IMD Dr M Mahapatra, around 40 scientists involved in modelling, weather modelling and those taking satellite observations were worked for nearly 16-18 hours during last one week.
“We were reporting early to the work and working till late evening. Even when many of us were not on desk we were co-ordinating the work from our homes as bulletins were being issued after every three hours. Today after nearly a week of non-stop work, we would finally be able to take some rest,” Mahapatra told dna.
Mahapatra said the extent of IMD’s success in controlling the level of damage to lives can be gauged from the fact that from loss of around 9500 lives in 1999, today the casualty is less than 30.
Besides scientists at IMD headquarters, its staff was working in Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Vishakhapatnam and other areas to ensure constant flow of data so that forecast can be made and updated frequently.
IMD also coordinated with other departments ranging from Prime Minister’s Office, cabinet secretariat to state governments in order to not let the evacuation and relief work hamper.
The work had started around September 22 when an annual meeting to check government’s preparedness was held. It was followed by regular meetings during the last week and IMD officials felt a co-ordinated effort from PMO and cabinet secretariat ensured there was no laxity at any level whatsoever.
Top sources, meanwhile, told dna that even as prime minister Narendra Modi was busy in election campaigning he constantly remained in touch with IMD’s top brass with his aides exchanging more than a dozen of SMSes and calls. “He led the rescue and relief work and did not let the election campaign hamper his work. On Saturday, he held a meeting with cabinet secretariat and other top officials including IMD DG and a similar meeting was scheduled for Monday evening as well before he reaches Vishakhapatnam on Tuesday,” said sources.
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