BHUBANESWAR: After international recognition for flood and cyclone management, the state government has scaled up its exercise to make 100 more villages and wards tsunami ready in 2023.
Officials of the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) said 62 tsunami-prone villages and wards have already been covered under the Indian Ocean Tsunami Ready (IOTR) programme, while awareness activities have been launched in 100 more tsunami-prone villages and wards under IOTR as well as the Odisha Tsunami Preparedness Programme in 2023.
The activities include awareness generation, mock drills, mapping of tsunami hazard zones, preparation of tsunami management plans, capacity building, and training of different stakeholders among others.
Notably, the Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) village of Rangeilunda block in Ganjam and Noliasahi village of Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur have been recognised as the first two Tsunami Ready communities under the IOTR programme of UNESCO - Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) in 2020. However, an official from the OSDMA said the exercise to make identified villages tsunami ready, was severely hit in the same year due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. As the global health crisis has subsided, the programme is now being implemented on full-scale, he said.
The officer said the number of tsunami-prone villages and wards identified in 22 blocks of six coastal districts of the state has also gone up from 326 to 381.
“Our target is to get the recognition of tsunami-ready communities for the people of all the identified villages and wards. Accordingly, the exercises are being carried out in a phased manner,” he said.
OSDMA officials said people need to be sensitised about this calamity in view of the devastating tsunami that claimed the lives of thousands of people in South India way back in 2004. Odisha had a narrow escape from the disaster that wreaked havoc on Tamil Nadu and Andhra coasts.