Mock tsunami drill in 328 villages of six coastal districts in Odisha

KENDRAPARA: A mock tsunami drill was conducted in 328 vulnerable villages of six coastal districts of the State on Tuesday. 

The drill, conducted by Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) in association with the district administration and other Government and non-Government agencies, was aimed at creating awareness among people on tsunami and to assess preparedness of relief agencies. 

General manager of OSDMA Bholanath Mishra said, a mock tsunami warning message was sent to OSDMA by the Indian  Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS), Hyderabad at 9.30 am following which the administrations of all coastal districts in the State were alerted through email, SMS and phone thrice at 9.30,9.45 and 10 am.

“After getting messages from us, the district administrations alerted the tsunami-prone villages, BDOs, tehsildars, Indian Navy, Coast Guard, fishery and port officials, fishermen, panchayat body members, NGOs and social workers,” he said. 

Due to the prevailing Covid situation, mock rescue operations were not conducted. However, the drill enhanced the preparedness, evaluated response capabilities and coordination among Government and non-Government agencies. 

OSDMA had trained the trainers in the tsunami prone villages. “We had also trained many teachers and students. The OSDMA has already prepared plans to face tsunami in the seaside villages and accordingly, warning systems have been developed in the State,” said Mishra.

The State Government, three years back, had built 122 Early Warning Dissemination  System (EWDS) towers at the seaside villages of the State to provide cyclone and tsunami warning.  

All the towers have been fitted with sirens and all the sirens went off simultaneously during the mock drill conducted on the day. 

Around 64 seaside villages of  Kendrapara, 28 of Jagatsinghpurt, 88 of Puri and 44 of Ganjam district were identified as prone to tsunami. Similarly 63 villages of Balasore were also identified as tsunami-prone apart from 41 in neighbouring  Bhadrak.