Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik at an exhibition of disaster management equipment in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 29: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today emphasised on the need for an inclusive approach to help every person in Orissa to face natural disasters.

Focusing on an inclusive approach in disaster response and management, the chief minister said: “We have taken due care to strengthen every member of the community to face the disasters. We have made separate provisions for women, especially pregnant women, children and persons with disabilities.”

To ensure total accessibility for persons with disabilities, the Orissa State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) had taken up structural modifications in 28 existing multipurpose cyclone shelters with provisions of ramps and other specially designed facilities for them, said Naveen, while addressing the state-level event to observe the Orissa Disaster Preparedness Day and the National Day for Disaster Reduction. The day coincides with the devastating super cyclone that had ravaged Orissa on October 29-30, 1999.

This year’s theme for observing Orissa Disaster Preparedness Day has been chosen as “mainstreaming persons with disabilities in disaster risk reduction practices”.

“We have set up an objective to implement the accessibility features in all proposed cyclone and flood relief shelters,” said the chief minister.

Stating that the Orissa government has been actively pursuing a pro-active and technology-driven disaster management strategy, Naveen said Orissa had made strides in several areas towards strengthening the institutional mechanism, response capacities and financial arrangements for different activities relating to disaster management.

“With every passing disaster, we have made changes in the strategy to bring improvement in the quality of disaster management. We have focused on structural and non-structural interventions for a higher level of preparedness and response. We have constructed infrastructure such as multipurpose cyclone relief and flood relief shelters at remote areas, district emergency operation centres, and all-weather road connectivity and communication channels to villages,” said Naveen.

More than 200 multipurpose cyclone relief shelters and 50 flood relief shelters have been constructed in Orissa. About 150 more multipurpose cyclone relief shelters under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project and 14 such shelters under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project are being constructed. The OSDMA had been instructed to construct a few more flood shelters at strategic locations, he added.

Disaster management minister Surya Narayan Patro claimed the state government had tackled the two consecutive spells of floods this year effectively because of proper disaster preparedness and planning.

“However, we need to be more prepared,” he said, adding that more disaster rapid action force units would be created.

Chief secretary Bijay Patnaik said: “We learnt our lessons when the 1999 super cyclone caught us totally unprepared. Now, we have a multi-layered communication system and advanced disaster warning system. We have built more than 250 cyclone relief shelters and there has been better community preparedness to fight against natural disasters.”