Uttarkahnd team visits Odisha

A five-member official team from Uttarakhand today visited the cyclone Phailin affected villages in Ganjam district and interacted with the district officials about the disaster management plan of the district.
The team members, including the representatives of the World Bank and UNDP, led by Sailesh Baguli, the programme manager of Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Projects (UDRP) also visited the cyclone shelter centres at Kanamana and Matikhalla.
"The team was very keen to know about the management of the district administration in the pre and post-cyclone period. They also discussed about the formation of the district level disaster response authorities and its work before the disaster" said Assistant Collector and emergency officer Mahendra Panda.

The team also discussed with the officials of the Odisha State Disaster Management Authorities (OSDMA) yesterday at Bhubaneswar on various aspects of the management relating to the disasters.
Like Odisha, Uttarakhanda was also very prone to natural disasters like the heavy rains, floods. Hundreds of people, particularly the pilgrims of Char Dham Yatra died and heavy infrastructure facilities damaged in the devastating floods and subsequent heavy landslides in the month of last June.
Though heavy infrastructure facilities have been damaged in Ganjam district when cyclone Phailin hit the district on October 12, the human casualty was minimized due to the forcibly eviction of the people from the five-km of the coast line.

The team reportedly appreciated the steps taken by the government to minimise human casualties. At least 18 persons-- 13 in cyclone and five in the subsequent floods -- died in the district, sources said.