The Gujarat state government, according to an official statement issued Friday evening, has mobilised over 1,000 teams across eight districts to quickly restore power infrastructure in the aftermath of Cyclone Biparjoy. Strategic planning and the safe evacuation of over a lakh people were critical in achieving "zero casualties" during the cyclone's impact on the Kutch and Saurashtra regions. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel emphasised the state's efforts to reduce human losses, according to the statement.
Officials had earlier stated that about 1,000 villages were still without power as a result of the cyclone uprooting hundreds of electric poles, PTI reported. Power outages have been particularly severe in the Kutch district, where the cyclone made landfall on Thursday evening.
According to the release, 1,127 teams are working to restore electricity in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Morbi, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Rajkot, and Porbandar, with up to 51 teams deployed to maintain the operations of 714 substations in these areas.
According to the report, forest department teams removed 581 fallen trees from roads, and 184 teams were deployed in and around the Gir Forest to rescue lions and other wild animals if an emergency arose.
Commissioner of Relief Alok Kumar Pandey previously stated that no one died in the state as a result of any incident related to the cyclone. According to the release, as soon as it was announced that a cyclone was heading for Gujarat, Chief Minister Patel alerted and guided the state machinery as well as the concerned district administrations, instructing them to prepare a plan and find ways to mitigate its impact.
The state has thus set an example in disaster management, according to the statement, which also stated that chief minister Patel thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for their ongoing support and guidance.
According to the release, the CM has visited the State Emergency Operations Centre in Gandhinagar twice a day for the past four days to assess the situation and assess the administration's preparedness.
There were 10,918 children, 5,070 senior citizens, and 1,152 pregnant women among the 1,09,000 people who were relocated from coastal areas to temporary shelters, according to the report.
On the state's coastline, 19 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams and 12 State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams were deployed. According to the release, the government had also deployed 1,005 medical teams and 504 ambulances in coastal districts such as Kutch and Devbhumi Dwarka.