Siren to caution people about tsunami, cyclone in Odisha

Odisha government will install Early Warning System (EWS) to caution people about arrival of major natural calamities like tsunami and cyclone.
Chief Secretary A P Padhi has directed the officials of the Revenue and Disaster Management department to ensure installation of World Bank assisted EWS by August 15.
The people living in two kilometre from the coast could hear siren much ahead of either the tsunami or cyclone hit the land, said special relief commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi.
He said the system is being set up in 22 blocks of six coastal districts like Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri and Ganjam districts.

"L&T has been selected through a global tendering process to execute the work," Sethi said adding the project cost is Rs 75.09 crore.
The State Disaster Management Centre will be connected with as many as 161 towers to be set up.

While reviewing progress of the project, Padhi has directed the concerned officials to to ensure setting up of towers at the schools, Panthaniwas, fishing harbours, Central Industrial Security Forces camps, gram panchayat offices, police stations and tehsil offices in coastal areas.
The chief secretary also requested the BSNL to provide the necessary bandwidth to propagate information on natural disasters and to the Energy department to ensure electricity connection to run the equipment.

The State Disaster Management Centre (SDMC) will have six towers 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 be connected to the system, the SRC said.
The system can provide advance information about both cyclones and tsunami disasters, Sethi added.
While the World Bank will provide Rs 66.77 crore, the state government will spend remaining Rs 8.32 crore for the purpose of installing EWS.