NEW DELHI: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee may still be engaged in an acrimonious debate over management of cyclone Yaas, but here is another side to the latest calamity: the UN has praised Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik for his “well-resourced disaster management authority” that keeps saving precious lives.
Others can learn from Patnaik’s political commitment to good governance on disaster risk reduction (DRR), it has noted.
In an interview to TOI, Mami Mizutori, chief of UN office for disaster risk reduction (UNDRR), has said that “the lessons to be learnt from Odisha’s example are the importance of strengthening disaster risk governance, investing in preparedness and scenario planning while spreading a greater understanding of disaster risk amongst the public”.
Mizutori further said: “Since chief minister Patnaik was first elected, he has provided the political commitment necessary to build up a robust and well-resourced disaster management authority. In 1999, some 10,000 people died on the Odisha coastline and that has never been repeated thanks to the early warning systems and effective evacuation procedures that have been put in place”.
This is not the first time that the UN has recognised Patnaik’s good governance on DRR. The UNDRR had presented him with a citation in December 2013 appreciating his government’s efforts on evacuation of almost one million people during cyclone Phailin in October that year, limiting direct casualties to 21.
Cyclone Phailin was of the same intensity as the 1999 super cyclone that had left more than 10,000 dead in Odisha.
Mizutori has also lauded Patnaik for his pandemic management.
“From its early declaration of a state of emergency in March last year in response to COVID-19, it appears as though that culture of risk reduction has taken root and is paying dividends now in the state’s level of preparedness for the second wave and relatively lower proportion of deaths.”
The UNDRR chief appreciated the emphasis the state has laid on recruitment of DRR staff and on their training, inculcating in them a culture of service with empathy.
“When Odisha State Disaster Management Authority hires DRR staff, the job descriptions emphasize the importance of implementing the Sendai Framework and raising public awareness and understanding of disaster risk,” she said.
During last week’s Yaas cyclone, Odisha evacuated more than 7 lakh people and provided them safe shelters with food and medicines. At least 6,870 relief camps were set up by the state while its resilient infrastructure along the coastline ensured no substantive damage to public properties in any of the affected districts. Power supply was restored within two days of the landfall of the cyclone and all roads cleared. View More | Source: Times of India