KENDRAPARA: Sibani Bijuli, sarpanch of Kendrapara’s Batighar panchayat, addressed the first G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group Meeting at Gandhinagar in Gujarat on Wednesday. The dalit girl who had lost two of her elder brothers in the 1999 super cyclone that devastated the state, spoke about Odisha’s disaster management preparedness in the present day.
Sibani said the state now has a robust world-class disaster management procedure. “The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) was established much before the Disaster Management Act was passed in 2005 and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was constituted in 2001. OSDMA was the first such organisation established in India to deal with natural disasters,” said Sibani.
It is working with different stakeholders for sustainable development practices that will reduce disaster risk and increase the well-being and safety of the people, she added.
Each year, OSDMA alone with the district administration and panchayat body members, and government and non-governmental agencies, organises mock cyclone and tsunami drills to create awareness among the people on ways to face natural disasters. The mock drill increases preparedness, evaluates response capabilities and improves coordination as a result of which it is now easy for us to evacuate to safer locations, Bijuli narrated.
“The mission of the state government during cyclones is ‘zero casualty’. We faced around 10 cyclones after 1999 but the government has fulfilled its aim, credit of which goes to the joint efforts of communities, government officials, police, panchayat body members and self-help groups,” she pointed out. Odisha has become such a role model in disaster management that even the United Nations has praised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for effective management of disasters, Sibani further stated.
As many as 130 delegates from G20 member countries along with 11 invitee countries and 14 international organisations are participating in the three-day meeting from March 30 to April 1. Sharing her experience, 27-year-old Sibani said, she lost both her brothers to the 1999 super cyclone at her seaside village Kujnakothi under Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district.
“During that time, most houses were made of mud walls. While the cyclone killed around 10,000 people, over a million across Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts were left homeless and traumatised since there are many seaside villages there. Now almost every gram panchayat has cyclone shelters, schools, concrete roads and pucca houses,” she stressed.