Kerala mulls contingency plan for environmental disasters

Noting that hilly areas of Kerala are "vulnerable" to environmental disasters, state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday pushed for an urgent contingency plan to deal with any calamity as witnessed in Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

Describing as "climate disaster" the floods and landslide that hit Jammu and Kashmir, Chennithala said he would discuss with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his ministerial colleagues the need for a contingency plan for Kerala, which has a huge area of highlands slope down from the Western Ghats.

"Kerala is required to prepare a contingency plan to deal with environmental disasters as occurred in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. The state is vulnerable to such disasters," the Kerala Minister said.

The high ranges of Kerala in Western Ghats rise to an average height of 900m, with a number of peaks well over 1,800 m in height. The ranges cover an area of 18,650 sq km and accounts for 48 per cent of the total land area of Kerala.