Guwahati, Dec. 4: The Assam government has launched two helpline numbers to assist people from the state whose relatives and friends are stranded in flood-hit Tamil Nadu.

"In the wake of floods in Tamil Nadu, we have opened the helpline numbers 1070 (toll free) and 2237219 for people to share information regarding anyone stranded in Chennai or other parts of Tamil Nadu," chief executive officer of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) P.K. Tiwari today said.

He said people calling from outside Assam would have to prefix the STD code of Guwahati (0361) to the helpline numbers. "According to information received from relatives and family members till 4pm today, there are 22 people from the state stranded in Chennai. It has been communicated to the State Disaster Management Authority, Tamil Nadu, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) control room in Chennai for necessary action," Tiwari said.

He said information could also be shared on the phone numbers of Tamil Nadu Disaster Management control room (044-28593990) and NDRF control room (09489615791).

"Though we have received information about the 22 people, there could be more as we don't know how many people from the state are there," he said. He said according to information available with him, the situation in Chennai is gradually improving and rail connectivity is likely to be restored tomorrow.

On being asked how prepared the state government is to deal with a Chennai-like situation, Tiwari said, "We are much better prepared for any such situation. We are upgrading the toll-free helpline number of the state emergency operation centre to make it capable of receiving 10 calls simultaneously. Similarly, the district emergency operation centres will be able to receive five calls at a time," he said.

Tiwari said the state government would procure three mechanised boats each for 21 flood-prone districts of the state. Each of these boats would have a carrying capacity of 25 to 30 people. "We will also procure 10 rafts for Guwahati to carry out relief and rescue operations in congested areas where boats can't enter," he said.

He said they have developed a mobile application for sharing information about disasters and accidents. This can be downloaded from the ASDMA website. "Any information shared through this mobile application will directly come to the state emergency centre of ASDMA, which will forward it to the authorities," he said.

"We have two companies of the State Disaster Response Force and a third company will be raised before the next rainy season," the ASDMA CEO said.

He said in order to build a disaster-resilient community, village land management and conservation committees will be constituted in each revenue circle of the state, excluding BTAD and autonomous hill districts, to protect wetlands and other natural resources of the villages. "We will be training around 1.6 lakh villagers to cope with natural disasters like floods and earthquakes," he said.

Tiwari said when disaster strikes, most communication channels, including telephone lines, collapse, so they will be using very high frequency, ultra high frequency and high frequency mediums for communication during emergency.

"The total cost of this project is around Rs 6 crore. It will take some time as we will have to take frequency clearance from the Union ministry of home affairs," he said.