Taking a lesson from the massive earthquake that caused large scale devastation in the State last month, the Sikkim Government has now decided to raise a battalion of State Disaster Response Force to deal with such calamities in future. On the other hand, the restoration of the Mangan-Chungthang road in North district is in the final stage.The proposed State Disaster Response Force will be equipped and trained on the lines of the National Disaster Response Force, drawing its personnel from the Para-military and police forces of the State Government itself. A notification in this regard may be issued within a week. Meanwhile, the Border Roads Organisation is making all out efforts to re-open the Mangan-Chungthang road for traffic.The job is likely to be completed in a short while from now.The last month’s earthquake had badly damaged the road, rendering the entire area, North of Mangan, inaccessible.