Sunday, December 26 2004 17:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Centre's Crisis Management (CMG) Group today (Dec 26, 2004) met and drew up an emergency plan to carry out relief and rescue operations in the tidal wave affected regions of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Ministries of Defence, Civil Aviation and Shipping and the three services of the Armed Forces would be coordinating the operations with Chennai being the main hub, Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi told reporters after a marathon meeting of CMG in New Delhi.

Chaturvedi said the meeting also discussed the steps to be taken to evacuate the tourists trapped in Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and facilitate travel for those wishing to move out of the affected areas.

He said already many initiatives have been taken by the Government in providing the much-needed relief including medicines and power-generating sets run on diesel.

The Air Force has been asked to airlift the relief material and Chennai will the main operational centre, the Cabinet Secretary said, adding the meeting also discussed steps to be taken in the days ahead.

Chaturvedi described the damage caused by the tidal waves, as extensive but did not provide any details. "I am not going into the numbers and I am not going into the extent of damage. The damage is extensive," he said.

He said the Civil Aviation Ministry will run additional flights to those wanting to move out of the affected regions.