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Disaster preparedness drill on June 19

Staff Reporter

Villagers in six coastal districts to display their skills in operating the equipment given to minimise loss

Recognition to village-level Disaster Management Committees soon
Tsunami, quake and lightning to be included in Orissa Relief Code

Puri: Come June 19, more than two lakh villagers from across six coastal districts of the State would come out of their homes to demonstrate their skills in operating the equipment to minimise loss during real-time disaster in one of the largest disaster preparedness drills in the country.

Under the active supervision of the Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA), the drill would help the administration assess the level of preparedness and resilience among villagers to face disasters.

A challenge

“The annual mock drill will showcase the coordination between different branches of the government with the villagers. Personnel of the Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) will demonstrate as to how they should respond during crisis period,” Gyan Ranjan Das, State Project Coordinator of OSDMA. said. He was speaking on the sidelines of a capacity building workshop on ‘Strengthening disaster prevention and resilience’ organised by the BBC World Service Trust here on Wednesday.

The drill would be conducted in 97 cyclone shelters erected by the State government in six coastal districts. More than 300 villages would be covered under the programme.

“What are the villagers expected to do?” They will give a live demonstration on how to put on life jackets during flood and cyclone followed by sea surge, rushing injured persons on stretchers, use of long ropes and steel ladders.

Although the drill is an annual affair, for the first time it would be gauged if equipment, which were provided to villagers earlier, were being used efficiently, Mr. Das said.

He said the government was also contemplating giving “official” recognition to village-level Disaster Management Committees (DMCs). Henceforth, the district and block-level government functionaries would have to take these DMCs along them while taking up relief and rescue operations during disasters. Earlier, government officials were not giving much importance to traditional knowledge of villagers and their efficiencies to prevent further damage during disasters.

Acknowledging the role of DMCs would be done through update of Orissa Relief Code (ORC), which was under process, Mr. Das said. DMCs had been formed in 21,055 villages spreading across 16 districts.

The OSDMA officials further informed that the draft ORC would be ready by June 15 and put before a committee headed by Chief Minister for formal approval.

ORC revision would also include recognition of tsunami, earthquake and lightning as new kind of disasters. The amendment would help the administration include villagers struck by the new form of disasters in its assistance programme, Mr. Das said.

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