Kannur (Kerala), May 1 (IANS) Wiser after the Nepal earthquake when locating Keralites became very difficult, the state government is planning to put in place a mechanism for people from the state to put up their details on Roots-Norka website when going out of state for vacations, said a Kerala Minister.
State Minister for Diaspora K.C. Joseph who returned from New Delhi after coordinating the evacuation of Keralites from Nepal said today there is no mechanism to trace Keralites during an emergency.
“What we plan is in the best interest of our own people who travel outside the state and country for vacations to register their contact details of a relative or a friend at their home town and a likely itinerary of their travel on the Roots-Norka website. Full confidentiality will be maintained and the only aim is to help people if any emergency occurs in the place they visit. Today what happens is none has any clue if a situation emerges outside the state and we have no knowledge if any Keralite is caught in it,” said Joseph to IANS.
Joseph said this after visiting the home of a young Kerala doctor Deepak Thomas, who was killed in the Nepal earthquake.
Thomas and his classmate A.S. Ershad were killed while another friend of theirs Ebin Soorya is currently being treated in a Delhi hospital after he was air-lifted from Nepal.
“At the next cabinet meeting, I will raise this issue of opening the website for registration purposes. This will benefit the people who travel and the state authorities also can step into action quickly, if an emergency situation arises,” added Joseph.
He added that when in Delhi he had received numerous calls from several quarters and everyone wanted to know how many Keralites were in Nepal as none had any clue at all.
He said around 250 Keralites were evacuated from quake hit Nepal.