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Orissa comes up with disaster preparedness plan

Nearly a year after a super cyclone hit the state, devastating coastal Orissa and claiming over ten thousand lives, the state government has finally come up with a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan.

According to sources, top level officials decided at a meeting on Tuesday to put in place a comprehensive plan to equip the government to deal up with cyclones and other disasters.

The plan suggests steps to be taken in the event of the state being threatened by a cyclone. "The plan mainly focuses on how to cope with cyclones," a senior official told rediff.com.

It was decided that the meteorological department would flash warnings as soon as a threat becomes apparent. "Forty-eight hours before the cyclone hits the state, the meteorological department would come out with details of the path the cyclone is likely to take," he explained.

Simultaneously, satellite images would be provided to the state government. "Twenty-four hours before it hits the state, wind speed, possibility of tidal waves and other details would be flashed all over the state," sources said.

It has also been decided that All India Radio and Doordarshan (regional centre) would disseminate information on the cyclone at regular intervals. Bulletins would appear on an hourly basis.

The Orissa Remote Sensing Application Centre would furnish information on the elevated positions falling in the path of the cyclone. People could take shelter in these places, the sources said.

All departments of the state government have been asked to prepare contingency plans and ascribe specific assignments to their officials to be undertaken during a crisis.

This high level official meeting also reviewed the existing communication channels with the cyclone prone districts. "Wireless and VHF sets in all the cyclone prone districts would be kept fully operational so that communication links are not completely severed," sources said.

The Indian Meteorological department at Bhubaneswar, it was decided, would be connected to the Internet to open up another communication link.

The state government would train people in disaster preparedness. At present, home guards, civil defence and other such personnel are the only ones trained in disaster management. Others would be added to the list.

Cyclone shelters would have facilities to record wind speed and statistics of rainfall. It was also decided to purchase road clearance equipment.

EARLIER REPORTS
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Cyclone batters lives in Orissa
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