Experts demonstrate a rescue technique. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 28: Specialised units and volunteers will soon get an opportunity to walk into classrooms to learn disaster management techniques.

The government is setting up an institute with the assistance of the World Bank.

Construction of the building to house the State Institute of Disaster Management is expected to be over in the next two to three years.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today laid the foundation stone of the proposed institute to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore at Gothapatna on the city outskirts.

Incidentally, the state will observe Disaster Preparedness Day tomorrow.

In 1999, a super cyclone devastated Odisha and left about 1,000 people dead. A little over a decade later, severe cyclonic storm Phailin struck Odisha on October 12, 2013, causing extensive damage across the state. However, the government’s disaster management post-Phailin won global appreciation last year.

The institute will be set up as part of the Odisha Disaster Recovery Project to be executed with the assistance of the World Bank.

The institute will also have a composite office complex for the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority, special relief commissioner and the State Emergency Operation Centre.

There will be training facilities for people involved in disaster management starting from Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), Civil Defence Organisation, voluntary organisations and community volunteers.

The government also wants to draw volunteers from colleges and villages and teach them necessary skills to handle emergency situations.

Various activities will be organised at different levels starting from Wednesday to spread awareness on the need for greater preparedness to tackle disasters.

A state-level exhibition on disaster management will also be held in the city.

In another development, an institute for training of revenue officers was also inaugurated by the chief minister in the same locality. The institute has been built on 52 acres for Rs 18 crore.

Built with the assistance of the World Bank, it is a first of its kind initiative for revenue officers. Hundred inspectors and assistant revenue inspectors will undergo training from tomorrow.

Later, officials of the Odisha Revenue Service will be given training on different aspects of revenue laws and the need to have a backup of land records on computers. Training will also be given to survey and settlement officials on high-tech survey under national land records modernisation programme.

In the coming days, special survey and settlement operation will be undertaken in 8,000 villages in Keonjhar, Khurda, Cuttack and Ganjam districts.