Bhubaneswar: After achieving remarkable progress in its ‘Zero Casualty’ approach during cyclones like Fani, the state government is now looking forward to be disaster resilient. The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) in collaboration with UNICEF and UNDP is preparing Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) road map to make the state disaster resilient in next 15 years.
“Due to the prolonged approach from various stakeholders, we have succeeded in reducing the human casualties due to cyclone and floods. In the meantime, we are experiencing new kind of disasters like land sliding, lightning and urban flooding. Therefore, we have drafted a new road map to mitigate the calamities through short-term, medium-term and long-term action plans,” Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) and OSDMA managing director, PK Jena said.
The draft roadmap has been circulated to various line departments like Rural Development, Housing & Urban Development, Panchayati Raj, Agriculture and others for their suggestions and feedbacks, he said.
After getting the suggestions, the plan will be implemented through the departments concerned to make Odisha disaster resilient, the SRC said.
The draft has been prepared in line with Sendai Framework, which was adopted by 168 countries in 2015, has also reinforced the importance of strengthening disaster risk governance and coordination across relevant institutions, sectors and the full and meaningful participation of relevant stakeholders with clear articulation of responsibilities across public and private stakeholders, including businesses and academia.
The architecture of the roadmap is being framed on the four pillars of risk informed development—Resilient Villages, Resilient Cities, Sustainable Environment and Inclusive Governance.
The DRR road map for Odisha is envisaged to have a clear time bound multi-sectoral and multi-department strategy for the next 15 years aligned with localised priorities and targets. The action plan will be executed by 17 departments, official sources said.
This long-term road map is expected to provide a long-term disaster risk reduction framework for all sectors to facilitate planned and organised action, in a synergic manner, for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable resilience building.
The road map to resilient Odisha is built around the principle of “Risk Informed and Integrated Sustainable Development”. Under the vision, the government is eying to build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations by 2013. It also has an objective to reduce damage to critical infrastructure like power lines, schools and hospitals and disruption of basic services by 2030.
The state is also planning to develop effective global and regional campaigns as instruments for public awareness and education, building on the existing ones. For example, the government will launch “One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals” initiative, the “Making Cities Resilient: my city is getting ready!” campaign.
The draft proposed functioning of control rooms in all concerned offices including the offices of collectors, Revenue Divisional Commissioners, Board of Revenue and SRC especially from the May to November during which there is likelihood of occurrence of major natural calamities like floods, cyclones and tidal disasters. Drought conditions may also develop in case of erratic and inadequate rainfall in which case the control rooms may function also beyond November.
Natural disasters like floods and droughts have been regular features in the state since 1965. The long history of disasters substantiates the fact that about 80 per cent of the state is prone to one or more forms of natural disasters. Although the coastline of Odisha is only about 17 per cent of India’s east coast, it has been affected by nearly 35 per cent of all cyclonic and severe cyclonic storms that have crossed the east coast and associated storm surges that have often inundated large tracts of coastal districts.