Bhubaneswar: A mock drill on the management of natural disasters will be held on June in all the districts across Odisha.
"Such drill will also be conducted in all 879 multipurpose cyclone and flood shelters in Odisha, during which community volunteers will take part in disaster management drills," said special relief commissioner and disaster management secretary Bishnupada Sethi after a meeting held on Thursday to review the state of preparedness by the related departments and agencies to encounter the pre-monsoon cyclone.
Members of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), fire services, National Disaster Response Force, panachayati raj representatives and local voluntary agencies will take part in the mock drill.
Odisha, a coastal state, is prone to various natural calamities. The state was devastated by a super cyclone in 1999, following which it came up with a mechanism to fight natural disasters. It was the first state to set up a state disaster mitigation authority and formulate a disaster management policy.
Odisha has 20 ODRAF units, which are ready for deployment for rescue and relief operations during flood and cyclone. There are also 317 fire stations equipped with trained manpower to take up rescue operations. Besides, 11 teams of the NDRF stationed at Mundali near Cuttack are ready for deployment.
Bhubaneswar regional meteorology centre director Sarat Chandra Sahu said there was a standard protocol for transmission of the cyclone warning and alert messages were transmitted to various government authorities, including the district collectors and media. Doppler weather radars are functioning in Paradip and Gopalpur to help in cyclone tracking and forecasting. "These radars also help in forecasting tornado, thunderstorm and hailstorm," he said.
Odisha chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi requested him to pursue the matter with the Centre and the IMD in New Delhi for installation of doppler radars in Sambalpur and Balasore at the earliest.
BSNL authorities said the telecom body had necessary arrangements in place to keep the telecommunication system operational in a cyclone situation.
