Patna, Sept. 6: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today directed the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority to increase the number of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams from 16 to 50, and focus on training and capacity building programmes.

Each SDRF team has around 50 personnel.

Nitish said five boats must be provided to every village panchayat and people should be trained in plying them.

Nitish's directions came at the 10th meeting of the authority that he chairs and against the backdrop of the floods that killed 514 persons and affected 17.2 million people this year. The 16 teams of the SDRF helped evacuate over 43,000 people, rescued and hospitalised 302 pregnant women and sick persons, and also recovered 86 bodies in this year's floods.

'Over 6 crore people in Bihar are using mobile phones and it's necessary to consider how to provide awareness about disasters and safety measures to them via mass messaging and advertisements,' Nitish said.

He called for another meeting of the BSDMA in November this year. Nitish directed officials to include all municipal corporations and municipalities in the city disaster management plans and earthquake advisory committee schemes in two phases.

He said all government schools, hospitals and medical colleges should be made earthquake resistant, and the education department will allocate the budget for it.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, disaster management minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav, BSDMA vice-chairman Vyas Ji and member Uday Kant Misra, chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and other officials were present at the meeting.

Modi said life jackets should be available on all boats. Pratyaya Amrit, principal secretary, disaster management, said preparations to tackle floods should start in December instead of May, and storage of polythene sheets should be ensured.

This year the state had to airlift polythene sheets from Kolkata during the floods.