Govt to set up EWS for disasters by Aug 15

Bhubaneswar: To provide a major impetus to disaster management in Odisha, the State Government will install Early Warning Systems (EWS) to caution people about arrival of major natural calamities like tsunami and cyclone.

Chief Secretary A P Padhi on Friday directed the officials of the Revenue and Disaster Management department to ensure installation of the EWS by August 15.

The system would enable people living within 2 km area from the coast to hear siren much earlier when the calamity hits the land, special relief commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi.

The EWS will be installed in 22 blocks of six coastal districts like Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri and Ganjam.

Under the ambitious project, the State Disaster Management Centre (SDMC) will be synced up with 161 towers out of which six towers will be set up at the district level, 22 towers at Block level, 14 in fishing jetties and 122 siren towers spread over 22 coastal blocks while six digital mobile radio stations will also be fitted with the system, the SRC said.

The towers would be preferably set up at schools, Panthaniwas, fishing harbours, Central Industrial Security Forces camps, gram panchayat offices, police stations and tehsil offices in coastal areas.

The project will be executed by L&T and costs Rs 75.09 crore out of which the World Bank will provide Rs 66.77 crore, while the state government will spend the remaining Rs 8.32 crore.

(With PTI inputs)