PANAJI: India meteorological department (IMD) at Goa has launched an SMS service to alert citizens of weather warnings. People will have to subscribe to avail of the free service.
“Anyone who wants nowcast warnings, rainfall forecasts or fishermen-related alerts can register with IMD Goa and receive the SMS,” said IMD scientist, Rahul M.
Users can log on to IMD Goa’s website mausam.imd.gov.in/goa to register. The portal asks for details such as name, taluka, district, phone number and type of alert for registration.
“In cases of severe weather, which may have a distinct impact particularly when there is thunderstorm activity suddenly during a fair-weather season, such information will be useful for the public. During monsoons, warnings of formation of severe weather systems over oceans are useful for fishermen,” Rahul said.
Prior to this, IMD had already engaged in sending SMS alerts to individual fishermen in Goa. A workshop was held in 2018 wherein 40 fishermen were briefed about the SMS service and weather alerts were texted to them.
“These were mainly presidents or chairpersons of various fisheries associations in Goa who would receive the SMS and then circulate the alerts among other fishermen,” Rahul added.
Besides this, IMD Goa is coordinating with the state disaster management authority to implement a system wherein they will be issuing bulk SMS warnings to the public about possible weather-related disasters. This SMS service will also be free of cost.
Credit: Times of India
