BHUBANESWAR, Oct 30: The Odisha government has decided to construct 500 more multi-purpose buildings to accommodate people during natural calamities in coastal districts, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said.
He said Odisha and its people have now learnt to tackle the situation arising out of cyclones, though the 1999 ‘super cyclone’ and subsequent tropical storms in the last 25 years “left painful memories”.
Majhi was addressing the state-level function marking Disaster Preparedness Day and National Day for Disaster Reduction on Tuesday.
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“The state had only 21 cyclone shelters when the super cyclone struck Odisha coast in 1999. Now, it has 844 cyclone shelters and the government has decided to construct another 500 buildings to accommodate people during natural calamities,” the CM said.
He said human lives are saved due to the timely evacuation of people from the disaster zones.
“The government will construct new buildings, which could be used for multiple purposes like schools, halls and shelters during disaster,” Majhi said.
In another decision, Majhi said his government will raise 10 more teams of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force. The state presently has 20 such units where personnel are trained to rescue people.
The chief minister also said more mangrove forests would be grown along the state’s coast.
The mangrove forest in the Bhitarkanika National Park could effectively counter and reduce the wind speed during the recent severe cyclone Dana, which hit the Odisha coast on the night of October 25, Majhi said.
The state government would soon set up a natural disaster management centre in Bhubaneswar to deal with the incidents of cyclones and floods, he said.
As part of Odisha’s preparedness to deal with natural disasters, Majhi said the state presently has “26 tsunami-ready villages on the coast”.
“We have decided to prepare at least 381 tsunami-ready villages located on the coastline,” he said. (PTI)
