Odisha First State To Have Two Tsunami Ready Villages

Odisha First State To Have Two Tsunami Ready Villages

Well known for its disaster management capabilities, Odisha has added another feather to its cap by becoming the first state in the Indian Ocean region to have two ‘tsunami ready’ villages.

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO has recognised Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) village of Rangeilunda block in Ganjam district and Noliasahi village of Erasama block in Jagatsinghpur district for greater preparedness to face a tsunami disaster.

The ‘certificate of recognition’ will be handed over to the villagers of Venkatraipur and Nolia Sahi through a virtual event on Friday afternoon, an official informed.

The event will be organised by the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS) Secretariat in Perth, Australia and the Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre (IOTIC) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Tweeting about the same, the Managing Director of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), Pradeep Jena, wrote that UNESCO-IOC has recognised the efforts of the two villages towards becoming tsunami ready.

UNESCO-IOC has recognised 2villages- Noliasahi in @CollectorJspur & Venkatraipur in @Ganjam_Admin Tsunami Ready Villages. Odisha 1st State in whole of Indian Ocean Region to get this honours. Tomorrow in Virtual Ceremony award & certificates will be given to @OSDMA & communities.

— Pradeep Jena IAS (@PradeepJenaIAS) August 6, 2020

Odisha has 328 coastal villages that are vulnerable to tsunamis. OSDMA had chosen six coastal villages to implement the tsunami ready programme. Of them, two fulfilled all the 11 parameters and therefore chosen to get the ‘tsunami ready’ tag. 

This followed a visit by the national board that supervises and monitors the implementation of ‘Tsunami Ready Recognition’ programme in December last year.

These two villages in Odisha have signs and symbols forewarning their residents about an impending tsunami. 

They also have evacuation routes as well as safe places that are clearly marked and made known to all the villagers. These measures will ease the evacuation process in the event of an actual tsunami hitting the coast.

Also, inundation maps have been developed to determine the areas that might be inundated. These maps are based on tsunami scenarios that take into account the location, surrounding environment, total population, critical services and facilities and possible wave heights, amplitudes and speed. The demarcation of tsunami-hazard zones will serve as a pre-warning to the residents of these zones as well as the general public.

The parameters include holding community tsunami-risk reduction programme, designation and mapping of tsunami-hazard zones, public display of tsunami information, easily understood tsunami evacuation maps, outreach and public education materials, participation in mock drills, community emergency plans and presence of reliable 24-hour early warning systems

The Indian Ocean Tsunami Ready Programme of IOC-UNESCO is based on community performance that facilitates tsunami preparedness as a collaboration between the community, its leaders as well as national and local emergency management agencies. 

Odisha being prone to cyclones, disaster management is a top priority for the government. The objective of this programme is to improve coastal community preparedness for tsunami emergencies in order to minimise the loss of life and property and to ensure structural and systematic approach in building community preparedness.

Odisha already has disaster management plans ready at different levels of preparedness to address tsunami disasters. Regular mock drills are conducted in the tsunami-prone villages. An Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) for last-mile connectivity has been set up in the tsunami-prone villages to address the existing gap for disseminating tsunami warning up to the community level.

The recognition by UNESCO is a great achievement for Odisha, making it a role model for tsunami preparedness in the area. With this recognition, the state now plans to make the remaining 326 villages and urban local bodies tsunami ready within a year.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik tweeted to appreciate the feat.

The communities were recognised by ensuring strong end-to-end early warning and mitigation system with focus on community awareness and preparedness. Tsunami Ready programme aims at minimising loss of life and property by following best practices during tsunami.@osdmaodisha

— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) August 6, 2020