Bhubaneswar: The communities of 24 Tsunami-prone coastal villages of six districts in Odisha have been recognized as Tsunami Ready by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (IOC-UNESCO) during the 2nd Global Tsunami Symposium held in Indonesia recently.

The Tsunami-prone villages are located in Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam districts of Odisha.  

Besides, the Tsunami Ready Recognition Certificates have been renewed for two already tsunami recognized villages of Odisha--Noliasahi of Jagatsinghpur district and Venkatraipur village of Ganjam district. The communities of these two villages were recognized as Tsunami Ready by the IOC-UNESCO in 2020.  

The Tsunami-prone villages are Jagannathpur, Jayadevkasabapahi, Sahapur and Kanyanagari in Balasore; Mohanpur, Adhuan, Badahabelisahi and Sanakrushnapur in Bhadrak; Kantilo, Tantiapal Sasan and Kaitha in Kendrapara; Bagheipur, Dhanuharbelari, Sahadabedi and Bhuyanpal in Jagatsinghpur;  Keutjanga, Narasinghpatana, Khalakatapatana and Chhotipada in Puri; and Uppulaputti, Prayagi, Kantiagada and Markandi in Ganjam.

Various activities including training and capacity buildings of various stakeholders, community awareness programmes, distribution of Tsunami awareness posters and leaflets, preparation of Tsunami Management Plans, Tsunami mock drills, identification of Tsunami evacuation routes, installation of Tsunami hoardings and evacuation signages have been taken up in theses 24 Tsunami prone villages.

The members of the National Tsunami Ready Recognition Boards (NTRB) comprising scientists of INCOIS, Hyderabad and officers of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) visited these 26 coastal villages for verification of the 12 indicators under the Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (TRRP) in September this year.

The NTRB members after verification of the indicators recommended IOC-UNESCO for recognizing the communities of these 26 coastal villages of Odisha as Tsunami Ready Communities.

The recognition certificates were presented by Vidar Helgesen, Assistant Director General of UNESCO and Executive Secretary, IOC-UNESCO to E. Pattabhi Rama Rao, scientist, INCOIS, who represented India during the symposium held in Indonesia.

Odisha has altogether 381 Tsunami-prone coastal villages and habitations. The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) aims at making the coastal communities of all these Tsunami-prone habitations as Tsunami Ready in phased manner.