weather// The government has announced an SMS-based warning system which will provide alerts on cyclones, tsunami and other weather-related natural calamities.

Inaugurating the system on the occasion of Good Governance Day, Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Earth Sciences said information on warnings will be disseminated to officials involved in administration, district magistrates/collectors besides fishermen, farmers and general public. “The information should be provided from the national to village level,” Harsh Vardhan said, adding that, Principals of schools should also be provided with this information as they can disseminate it to a large number of children.

Vardhan said that this exercise is a part of Prime Minister’s Digital India Programme and one of the components of the programme is to create an SMS-based weather information and disaster alert system.

“The whole process would take almost a year to get operationalised since we need to collect data and put it together. We would be closely working with the Ministry of Home Affairs and agencies like National Information Centre and NDMA to put all the data together,” he added. IMD is also taking assistance from Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, for the project.

A provision is being made for issue of SMS alerts to the general public, who would be required to register on Indian Meteorological Department website This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for this purpose.