BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, on Sunday, informed that School Safety Policy of 2016 as designed by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will be implemented by the School and Mass Education Department soon.Plans are also in the pipeline to integrate youth power with disaster management. Volunteers of NCC, NSS and YRC of different colleges have also been trained in disaster management skill by OSDMA, Patnaik said during Disaster Preparedness Day and National Day for Disaster Reduction.
“Today is the day to remember those who lost their lives in super cyclone in 1999. Since 1999, Odisha has become a model State for world in disaster preparedness and risk mitigation. The Government has ensured adequate planning, preparedness and continuous capacity building to avoid casualty during any disaster,” he added.So far, we have constructed 879 multipurpose cyclone and flood shelters, 17,000 ODRP houses for Phailin affected of Ganjam and Khurda districts, 571 houses at R&R site at Bagpatia for sea inundation affected people of Satabhaya in Kendrapara district, Patnaik informed.
The State government has also constructed five special godowns in Kendrapara district and 12 saline embankments in disaster prone areasThe ownership and management of all the shelters has been handed over to the local management committees and task forces formed at the shelter level.
Managing Director, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) Pradipta Mohapatra said their focus will be on imparting life saving skill training to school children and a new syllabus on disaster management will also be included in the curriculum.
“Odisha will soon become the first State in the Country to have Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS), which will be particularly made available in the coastal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri and Ganjam,” he said.The work of installation has been completed and Chief Minister will inaugurate the advanced warning systems by November 15, sources said.