Report by Kahnu Nanda, Jagatsinghpur: The Noliasahi village under Gadaharishpur Panchayat in Erasama block has been recognized by UNESCO and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission [IOC] as Tsunami ready communitiy’ village, in this regard UNESCO gave away the appreciation to Jagatsinghpur district administration through video conferencing on Friday.
The UNESCO adjudged this prestigious recognition after carefully considering Noliasahi villagers ability to recognize Tsunami warning signals, make correct decisions and act quickly for surviving people.
According to official sources informed that an UNESCO team had visited Noliasahi village on 14 Dec 2019 to study the community preparedness for tsunami emergencies and inspected the best practice set by intergovernmental coordination group [ICG] and Indian Ocean tsunami Warning and Mitigation System [IOTWMS] to implement the Tsunami mitigation guidelines at community label.
District administration emergency department, block authority along with Noliasahi villagers and local cyclone shelter management committee, NGO activists had organized a mock drill at Noliasahi cyclone shelter apprising UNESCO dignitaries with regards to their tsunami preparedness, as the village stands a close proximity to sea.
The mock drill had highly appreciated by the UNESCO team looking ground report of tsunami preparedness of villagers, moreover the team had talked with cyclone shelter management committee and enquired their role implementing tsunami advisories and tsunami standard operating procedure issued by Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre [ITEWC].
Meanwhile National Board, a committee of Ministry of earth sciences monitoring and implementing Tsunami ready exercise in country with Odisha disaster Management authority [OSDM] authority had visited Noliasahi village and verified Tsunami preparedness indicators and implementation of Tsunami guidelines.
Being satisfied with the tsunami mitigation preparedness National Board had nationally recognized two villages as Venkatraipura in Ganjam district and Noliasahi in Jagatsinghpur district and recommended UNESCO and IOC for recognition of these two villages. Later the World body UNESCO approved the recognition of these communities’ villages and adjudged India is the first country to implement Tsunami ready in Indian Ocean region and Odisha is the first state.
Receiving this international recognition through video conferencing on Friday, district collector S K Mohapatra, ADM Satchidananda Sahoo, Gadaharishpur Sarpanch Bhimasen Rout, cyclone management committee secretary Ravindra Behera were participated and received the certificate of appreciation through digital arrangement.
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