Early warning is first defense in India climate disasters

By PRASHANT RANGNEKAR, Press Trust of India

KOCHI, India (AP) — Following the devastating 2017 Cyclone Ockhi that ravaged several parts of Kerala state, the India Meteorological Department as well as the state have fast tracked ramping up infrastructure for cyclone warnings. There is a cyclone warning center in Kerala, one of only seven in India, and the Kerala government has also contracted private weather companies, so they have as much data as possible before disaster strikes their climate-vulnerable region again. In a recent visit to India, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has stated that the World Meteorological Organization will invest $3.1 billion to set up early warning systems across the world. According to the WMO, nearly half the world’s countries do not have any early warning systems.