KalingaTimes Correspondent
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 29: Even as the Naveen Patnaik Government had failed to complete the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the areas that were badly ravaged by a super-cyclone on this day exactly 10 years ago, in a face saving measure it announced the launching of a HAM Radio Communication network here on Thursday.

“Better communication infrastructure is now in place. Apart from the Police VHF network, we have a dedicated civil wireless network system connecting 414 locations including district headquarters with blocks and disaster-prone gram panchayats. All district headquarters are equipped with satellite phones,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said at the state level function to observe the Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day and National Day for Disaster Reduction at Jayadev Bhavan.

On the occasion, Patnaik also launched a HAM Radio Communication network comprising 21 HAM stations in vulnerable areas of the state.

Even though thousands of houses under the Indira Awas Yojana had not completed in the cyclone-hit areas till date, Patnaik drew solace by highlighting that during the last 10 years his government concentrated on both structural and non-structural interventions to enhance the state's capabilities to face such disasters.

“We have constructed 203 multi-purpose cyclone shelters and more than ten thousand school buildings, which can be used as shelters during calamities. 22 more cyclone shelters and 50 flood shelters in cyclone and flood prone areas of our state are under construction,” Patnaik said.

Patnaik informed that the state government had provided land and building to Indian Meteorological Department for setting up of Doppler Radars at Paradeep, Gopalpur, Balasore and Sambalpur. “This will further strengthen our capability in accurate weather prediction within a radius of 400 kilometers.”

Five units of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, trained in search and rescue techniques and equipped with modern machinery were now ready to move to any vulnerable area. Five more ODRAF units are being set up at Bhubaneswar, Paradip, Baripada, Rourkela and Balangir this year, Patnaik informed.

The Chief Minister further said that under UNDP assisted Disaster Risk Management (DRM) programme, Village Disaster Management Plans had been prepared in more than 23 thousand villages in 16 districts of the state.

He also thanked UNDP for their decision to launch a modified Disaster Risk Reduction Programme in the state from today.

“Our aim is to strengthen the village community, so that they can face disasters during the first few hours,” Patnaik observed.

He also informed that the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) at Hyderabad was setting up 220 Automated Weather Stations in different parts of the state.

The Automated Weather Station was a solar-powered system which would record data of a variety of weather parameters like rainfall, temperature, wind direction, wind speed, air pressure etc.

There was a provision of built-in transmitter in the Automated Weather Station to send the data to the hub via satellite and from the hub to different nodes. This will certainly improve our preparedness for impending disasters.

More than 8000 people were killed when a killer cyclone hit the coastal district of the state on October 29, 1999. The disaster had left millions of people homeless.