The Odisha Council of Ministers on Saturday passed a resolution to make disaster and pandemic preparedness a part of the curriculum of the schools and colleges.
This was revealed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who virtually chaired the meeting of the Council of Ministers today to mark the completion of two years in his fifth term.
The CM said every student, elected representative, government official, Misson Shakti members, and so on will be trained in disaster and pandemic preparedness.
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Terming the decision as a historic step, he expressed hope that it will enable and empower future generations to withstand the vagaries of nature whether it's biological or climatic.
“We have to continue to learn to deal with disasters and keep improving our systems and adapt to the impact of the climatic changes. It’s a matter of survival for our society and we will leave no stone unturned to make our State strong and capable in this regard,” he said.
“Odisha will stand out in saving people’s lives. It flows from our realisation that community preparedness is key to disaster management,” he added.
Speaking about completion of two years in office in the fifth term, the CM said, “We have completed two challenging years in pursuit of realizing the dreams of Biju Babu and fulfilling our commitments to the people of Odisha.”
“Even before the start of the 5th term of this government, we had to face the challenge of Cyclone Fani in May 2019. Since then over the last two years we have been continuously dealing with the devastating impact of the cyclones and the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a period of unprecedented crisis and we are trying our best to protect our people,” the CM pointed out.
He said return to normalcy is still a challenge and thatnobody is able to predict how many more variants or waves of infection humanity will have to face before the pandemic is successfully controlled.
“The Pandemic has created a unique situation where the lives and livelihoods of people are at stake. In spite of all the challenges, we are quite confident that we will emerge victorious in this crisis with the cooperation of the people of the state, and continue to carry forward the good work for the transformation of Odisha,” the CM added.