IMD to release Malaria and Chikungunya Alerts

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced that it is working on a forecasting system that will give a 15-day warnings on the likelihood of a malaria or chikungunya outbreak across different regions of the country.

Salient Highlights

The services are aimed at providing custom, weather-related information to cope with challenges of a global warming and its associated impact of weather. Instances of extreme rainfall could mean instances of humid conditions and water logging that could precipitate vector-borne disease outbreaks.
IMD will release five-day and 15-day forecasts of heat-waves, cold waves and disease outbreaks.
IMD will offer this service by teaming up with the Medical Council of India and the Red Cross Society. IMD will customize the dynamical model for generating this service. The IMD’s National Climate Centre in Pune will be reorganised to offer such climate services. At present, the pune Centre is tasked with forecasting the monsoon and documenting monsoon-related statistics.
IMD is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology in India. It functions under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India. It headquartered in New Delhi and operates hundreds of observation stations across India.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2017