For the first time, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO has recognised two villages of Odisha as ‘Tsunami-Ready Communities.’ Two coastal villages Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) village of Rangeilunda block in Ganjam district and Noliasahi village of Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur district have been recognised as being ‘tsunami ready’ for their overall preparedness to face the tsunami disaster. With this, India has become the first country in the Indian Ocean region to achieve this honour.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik tweeted to appreciate the feat.

To confer the UNESCO-IOC’s Certificate of Recognition and Certificate of Appreciation to Venkatraipur and Noliasahi communities, a virtual event was organised. State Disaster Management ACS Pradeep Jena along with Venkatraipur and Noliasahi based officials attended the event. Jena received the Certificate from UNESCO. “It will make Odisha a role model for tsunami preparedness. With this award, the state is motivated to make the 328 villages and urban local bodies’ tsunami ready by next year”, Jena said.

Odisha has 328 coastal villages that are vulnerable to tsunamis. Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) had chosen six coastal villages to implement the tsunami ready programme. Of them, two fulfilled all the 11 parameters and therefore chosen to get the ‘tsunami ready’ tag. This was followed by a visit by the National Board that supervises and monitors the implementation of ‘Tsunami Ready Recognition’ programme in December last year.

What is the Tsunami-Ready Programme?

Tsunami-Ready is a community performance-based programme initiated by the IOC of UNESCO to promote tsunami preparedness through the active collaboration of public, community leaders and national and local emergency management agencies.