Odisha, under the effective management of the Odisha Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), has already set global standards in disaster management. Now, the state is ready to receive the ‘Tsunami Ready’ tag for 328 villages spread across six coastal districts.
This news was revealed at a recent meeting of the OSDMA headed by Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy. The tag will be assigned according to the parameters set by UNICEF.
“In the meanwhile, two villages namely Baxipali of Ganjam district and Gadaharishpur of Jagatsingpur district have qualified all the parameters. These two villages might get UNICEF certificate soon”, said Pradeep Kumar Jena, Managing Director, OSDMA. After the certification, these two villages will be the first among the 56 nations along the Indian Ocean to receive this tag.
Tripathy has directed to start repair and maintenance work on the multipurpose cyclone/flood shelters before June 2020. He also directed the officials to ensure the supply of emergency equipment to cyclone shelters under the direct supervision of respective fire stations for keeping the machines in good working condition.
The State Institute of Disaster Management (SIDM) is now under construction on the campus of Revenue Officers Training Institute (ROTI) at Gothapatana. With the completion target set to March 31, 2021, the institute will offer state-of-the-art training infrastructure, training modules, and facilities.