Other States - Orissa   

Chief Minister inaugurates ham radio network

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressing a meeting to observe Orissa Disaster Preparedness Day and National Day for Disaster Reduction in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

BHUBANESWAR: Aiming at making village community resilient to disasters, the State government on Thursday launched ham radio network a decade after Super Cyclone devastated coastal districts on October 29, 1999.

“We are launching the ham radio Communication network by setting up 21 HAM Stations in different parts of the State,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurating the network at the State-level celebration marking 10th anniversary of the Super Cyclone.

In the aftermath of Super Cyclone, ham radio was found useful in establishing communication with the affected areas in which hams from other States participated in this activity.

Based on the experience, Orissa State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) took the steps to train volunteers in ham radio with technical assistance of Hyderabad-based National Institute of Amateur Radio which enabled them to qualify in the prescribed examination and obtain the required licence.

OSDMA sources said it had trained 291 volunteers on ham radio and set up 21 stations. Moreover, OSDMA launched satellite-based remote sensing technology for disaster management which will strengthen capabilities to assess the intensity and magnitude of various disasters. It would act as a platform for decision support system, said OSDMA Managing Director Nikunja Sundaray said.

Chief Minister said OSDMA in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) at Hyderabad, was setting up 220 Automated Weather Stations in different parts of the State.

“The Automated Weather Station is a solar-powered system which would record data of a variety of weather parameters like rainfall, temperature, wind direction, wind speed and air pressure,” Mr. Patnaik said.

Recollecting devastation caused by Super Cyclone in 1999, Chief Minister said it was certainly one of the worst disasters recorded in recent history. “Our hearts go out to the millions of people who suffered great misery due to the super cyclone and the other repeated disasters in our State,” he said.

“We have constructed 203 multi-purpose cyclone shelters and more than 10,000 school buildings, which can be used as shelters during calamities. As many as 22 more cyclone shelters and 50 flood shelters in cyclone and flood prone areas of our State are under construction,” Mr. Patnaik informed.

Under UNDP assisted Disaster Risk Management (DRM) programme, Village Disaster Management Plans have been prepared in more than 23,000 villages in 16 districts of the State, he said adding UN agency was launching a modified Disaster Risk Reduction Programme in the State on Thursday.

Several programmes were organised at various districts headquarters to commemorate 10th year completion of Super Cyclone that killed about 10,000 people and damaged properties worth thousands crores.

KORAPUT: Disaster preparedness day was observed at Koraput on Thursday. Children from different schools took out a rally in the town to sensitise people on the different measures that were required to minimise the losses in the event of occurrence of any disaster.

Later the volunteers of civil defence unit exhibited the skills for rescuing affected people from fire, water and other forms of disasters.

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