Bhadrak (Odisha) [India], November 19 : A UNICEF Team led by the Chief of Field Office, William Hanlon, alongwith representatives from Reliance Foundation, Kerala, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka visited Bhadrak district in Odisha to review tsunami preparedness.
Hanlon said that they visited the coastal areas and checked mangrove plantations and other on-the-ground efforts to help create different types of barriers that can help protect the coastline.
"We visited these coastal areas to look at different kinds of initiatives, like for example, mangrove plantations, some really practical, good on-the-ground efforts to help create different types of barriers that can help protect the coastline. And it's also really to learn and to talk about the issues and to see the local villages and see their preparedness and how they're responding and to really, I think, learn and come up with different ideas so we can all come together," he said.
Hanlon added that their main purpose was to check the measures taken by the government for the disaster.
"We came with a group that was led by the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office, together with Reliance Foundation, to look at disaster risk reduction in coastal areas of this district. We have been both to Badrak and to Balasore districts, and we have been to the coastal areas. The purpose is to bring our international participants who come from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as well as with representatives from the UN and Reliance Foundation to look at efforts that can be brought to bear to help mitigate the problems related to disasters that are stricken. We were in Chandipur also. Tomorrow we will have a conference. We'll have a conference in Bhubaneshwar where we will discuss these and other issues and think about ways to move forward," he said.
He further told ANI that the work done by Odisha since the supercyclone in 1999 was commendable.
"I think that the purpose of this was, was to come here and to see all the great work that's been done. I think that this is a model for, India. I think since the super cyclone in 1999, there's Odisha and this district in particular has really made a lot of positive movements forward. So it's really to bring that experience to, to the international realm, to bring it to those international participants who are here, and then to bring it together in this conference where we can discuss different ways of working with preparedness for cyclones and other events and how we can capture that and disseminate it globally," he said.
Collector and District Magistrate of Bhadrak, Dilip Routrai said that the UNICEF team was implementing the tsunami preparedness.
"Today, an international team led by UNICEF, they had come to Bhadrak district of Odisha and we are implementing tsunami preparedness. In one block that's Basudebpur block which is a coastal block of Bhadrak district in four villages we have started the four villages which are most prone to tsunami and the people I mean the team which came under the leadership of UNICEF the team comprised of representatives from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Keralapeople from the Reliance Foundation. They wanted to see how Bhadrak district is geared up as far as tsunami preparedness is concerned. They were extremely happy interacting with the people and they also saw in the field as to in case there is a tsunami, meaning a siren, as to how they will evacuate themselves, they will immediately run for safety and they will come to safer locations so that the precious lives can be saved. So after they came back, we had a wrap-up interaction in the presence of the additional district magistrate who received the prize on behalf of our district on the occasion of the National Disaster Preparedness Day on October 29, which is also the State Disaster Reduction Day," he said.
Routrai said that the Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi felicitated the Bhadrak distict after Dana cyclone struck.
"On October 29, the Chief Minister also felicitated Bhadrak district and the prize was received by the additional district magistrate because at that time, it was just a few days after the Dana had struck our district. And also, the entire team was very happy that we have a deputy collector, Tanmita Kaurav, and she has been leading from the front," he said.
He added that the interface with the people was the most important part of the visit.
"The interface with the people is more important. The most important part is that the people and the district administration have a very strong interface. And that is what something which they learned from us. And the underlining point which was mentioned during the wrap-up meeting is that there has to be multilateral cooperation, cooperation between the government and the non-government sector. So, coordination with all will definitely help to save precious lives and help people to face disasters like tsunami."