Disaster Risk Management

Preface :

______Bhadrak district lying between 20 deg.44' and 21deg.15' North Latitude and 86 deg.16' and 86 deg.58' East Longitude comes within the long coastal area (480km) of Orissa has suffered enormous loss of lives, livelihoods and damage of public property due to its typical geographical features which is extremely vulnerable to several natural hazards.

Immediate response from government and many non-government agencies resulted in rescue and evacuation that thus saved lives and properties.Nevertheless, the unprecedented and undesirable repercussions of "Super Cyclone-99" revealed many more painful truths specially the lack of coordinated effort in the whole system which brought a lot of changes in the thought & actions of the Government of Orissa and resulted in the formation of OSDMA (Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority).OSDMA along with the funding and technical support from UNDP ( United Nations Development Programme) implemeted CBDP (Community Based Disaster Preparedness Programme) in the 10 most affected blocks of 7 coastal districts of Orissa on pilot basis.

_______The success of the pilot programme brought Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs ) and UNDP to sign an agreement to cover the blocks of disaster prone districts (125 most vulnerable districts in 12 states of India) under the DRM (Disaster Risk Management) Programme.

The programme seeks to involve Communities, PRIs, NGOs, CBOs, educational institutions and Govt. functionaries in this multi- stake holder disaster mitigation approach, where the community and other local stake holders will come together to prepare their Disaster Management Plans through Resource, Hazard and Vulnerability Analysis. Govt. functionaries /PRIs/NGOs will provide necessary support for Orientation, Capacity Development, Skill Up- gradation, Awareness Generation and other Technical Inputs as would be required.

Goal :-

_______Sustainable reduction in disaster risks in all the 7 blocks,2 ULBs (urban local body),193 GPs and 1356 no of revenue villages of the district.

Objectives:
Capacity building support to the district administration.
Environment building, education, awareness programmes and strengthening the capacity at all levels in natural disaster risk management and sustainable recovery.
Multi-hazard preparedness, response and mitigation plans at the district, ULB,block, grampanchyat,revenue village and /ward levels
Networking knowledge on effective approaches, methods and tools for natural disaster risk management, developing and promoting policy frameworks.

OSDMA would carry the above objectives through district administration.

( Further details of the National Programme can be seen at www.undp.org.in/dmweb/index.htm )

Progress :

Information Education & Communication :

______Hundreds of posters regarding preparedness during Sunstroke, Flood, Cyclone, Drought, Earthquake and Fire has been distributed thru Blocks, Panchayat Office, Angan Wadi Centers and local Non-Government Organisations through out the district. Number of leaflets regarding implementation of DRM Programme as well as Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery has been produced and distributed. Wall Painting on Dos and Don'ts on Disaster is in progress.

Awareness Generation:

_______More than 200 numbers village sensitize meetings, regarding community level disaster preparedness and DRM Programme has been made. All the 193 nos of Grampanchayat Disaster Management Committees (GPDMC), 7 nos of Block Disaster Management Committees (BDMC) & 1 District Disaster Management Committees (DDMC) headed by Collector and District Magistrate, Bhadrak have been formed and thoroughly oriented on DRM Program in the district. State Disaster Preparedness Day (29th October ) is being observed in the district each year, where besides meetings, seminars number of competitions among school children regarding Disaster Risk Management held , specially trained village volunteers organized Mock Drills.

Trainings :

_______Total 22 nos of Govt. as well as NGO members have undergone specialized training on DRM in SIRD , Bhubaneswar jointly by OSDMA, SIRD & UNDP. Orientation thru Video Conferencing and Workshops for Administrative Heads in the state level organized. All the 7 BDMCs, 85 nos of GPDMCs and selected NGOs, VLWs, AAWs, SHG members have under gone specialized training on DPDM and Contingency Plan preparation. 70 nos of volunteers have undergone specialized training on First Aid and Search & Rescue by professional organizations such as St. Jones Ambulance and Civil Defense.

Disaster Management Plans :

_______Total 143 no of Community Contingency Plans -CCP (village plan),10 no of GPDM Plans, 3 nos of Block DM Plans and District DM Plan have been prepared.

District Control Room :

_______District Control Room or District Disaster Management & Information Center has been strengthened with the advent of VHF Set, Fax, Computer with Internet facility etc. All most all the Blocks are directly accessible thru VHF Sets. Process is on to have the same facilities in the other vulnerable areas over and above the 7 blocks. One SAT Phone has been supplied to District Administration by OSDMA. IDRN (India Disaster Resource Network) a newly developed website has been launched by Deputy Prime Minister, Govt. of India, on September 1st , which contains inventory of resources available throughout the State as well as the Nation is definitely a boon for those who are directly involved in the field of Disaster Management. The website is www.idrn.gov.in

The District Control Room can be contacted in the following telephone numbers :

06784-251881 and

1077 (toll free).