UNESCO recognises two coastal villages of Odisha as Tsunami Ready

In a first, two coastal villages of Odisha have been recognised as being "Tsunami Ready" by UNESCO for their overall preparedness to face the calamity, Additional Chief Secretary P K Jena said on Thursday.

With it Odisha became the first state in the country to have such villages and the country the first in the Indian Ocean region to achieve the honour from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

The two coastal villages are Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) village of Rangeilunda block in Ganjam district and Noliasahi village of Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur district, he said.

The certificate of recognition will be handed over