By Siraj Khan
Nepalgunj, July 11: The District Disaster Management Committee has stated that adequate preparations have been made ahead of time to brace for the risks of floods and inundation in Banke. 
Floods have ravaged several parts of the country -- sweeping away concrete bridges, drowning livestock, ruining farmlands, and destroying lives. Like many other parts of the country, Banke is also susceptible to flooding and landslide. Keeping this in mind, Chief District Officer Shiva Ram Gelal, and Coordinator of the committee, along with his team have formulated a detailed pre-disaster plan. 
“Adequate preparations have been made. We have set up a humanitarian aid cell at Nepalgunj Airport. Likewise, there are storage rooms strategically spread across seven different spots within the district fully stocked with necessary relief materials,” added coordinator Gelal. 
So far, about 22,769 units of relief materials sit in the warehouses most of which have been provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Care Nepal, Action Aid Nepal, among other humanitarian organisations. 
According to the Disaster Management Committee, 100 sets of food items are ready to go in case of crisis, which are currently stored in Nepalgunj-based Nepal Red Cross Society’s building. Moreover, Nepal Food Corporation has prepared 350 metric tonnes of food while Salt Trading Ltd. has stocked about 30,000 metric tonnes of salt to brace for the foreseeable crisis. 
As per the Information Officer of the District Disaster Management Committee Rupan Gyawali, 19 helipads have been set up at all the eight local levels of the district. “There are five helipads each at Raptisonari and Narainapur Rural Municipality, three at Duduwa, two at Nepalgunj, while the remaining ones have one helipad each,” he said. 
Apart from this, 12 rubber boats are ready to partake in any rescue mission should the need arise. 
In addition to these, the Disaster Management Committee has also trained 2,550 security personnel to carry out rescue missions.