Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA): A Benchmark for Disaster Preparedness and Management in India.

Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA): A Benchmark for Disaster Preparedness and Management in India.

Dr Sakuntala Gouda

Capital Law College, Bhubaneswar

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.9020328

Received: 14 February 2025; Accepted: 21 February 2025; Published: 21 March 2025

ABSTRACT

Odisha, one of the most vulnerable states in the country to natural disasters, bears the brunt of natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, and droughts year after year. It has a vast coastline of 480 km which makes the coastal districts highly vulnerable to tropical cyclones and tidal surges. These coastal districts are vulnerable to high floods as well. Western parts of the state are prone to come in the moderate risk zone-III. In addition to this, the state is also affected by disasters like heat waves, lightning, epidemics, forest fires, road accidents, etc. The records of the previous disasters in the state substantiate the fact that about 80% of the state is prone to some form of disaster.

Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) was set up by the Government of Odisha as an autonomous organization, in the intermediate aftermath of the Super-cyclone in 1999. The Authority has the mandate not only to undertake mitigation activities but also to support the entire gamut of disaster management activities including the promotion of preparedness among all stakeholders as well as coordination with the line departments involved in reconstruction and recovery, coordination with bilateral and multi-lateral aid agencies, coordination with UN Agencies, International, National and State-level NGOs, Networking with relevant organizations for effective disaster management and building a disaster resilient State and promoting a culture of safety.

This study employs a mixed-methods approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate OSDMA’s disaster management practices. Data will be gathered from primary and secondary sources, including official reports, academic articles, and interviews with key stakeholders involved in OSDMA’s initiatives. Detailed case studies of major cyclones, such as Phailin (2013) and Fani (2019), will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of OSDMA’s strategies. This seminar paper explores the comprehensive efforts of OSDMA, this study aims to provide a framework for other states to enhance their disaster preparedness and management capabilities.

Keywords:  Cyclone Shelters, Capacity Building, Engagement, Early Warning Systems Preparedness

INTRODUCTION

Odisha, one of the most vulnerable states in the country to natural disasters, bears the brunt of natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, and droughts year after year. It has a vast coastline of 480 km which makes the coastal districts highly vulnerable to tropical cyclones and tidal surges. These coastal districts are vulnerable to high floods as well. Western parts of the state are prone to drought. Though the state has not experienced any major earthquake in the past, a sizeable portion comes in the moderate risk zone-III. In addition to this, the state is also affected by disasters like heat waves, lightning, epidemics, forest fires, road accidents, etc. The records of the previous disasters in the state substantiate the fact that about 80% of the state is prone to some form of disaster. The two successive cyclones in October 1999 which hit the Odisha coast on the 18th & 19th as very severe cyclonic storms and on the 29th & 30th as Super Cyclones damaged the infrastructure in 14 districts of the state and severely disrupted public life. The magnitude was so severe that about 10,000 precious lives were lost, 2 million houses and 18 lakh hectares of crop area were damaged. It was recognized that the Reactive Approach of Relief, Restoration, and Reconstruction to the management of disasters was perhaps not the only answer to the question of disaster management. Hence, the proactive approach of Planning, Preparedness, and Prevention was taken up along with the three R’s.

The preparedness for building resilience into the system was multi-pronged. Initiating a new approach, the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), was set up by the Government of Odisha on 28th December 1999 to look after Post Cyclone restoration and reconstruction work along with the development of suitable management strategy to manage disasters and mitigate losses. The experience of coping with recurring disasters convinced the government that preparation and promotion of disaster resilience is essential for minimizing losses resulting from disasters. The major disaster management activities taken up by the Government of Odisha over the years are as follows:

Cyclone Shelters Shelter Places- Multipurpose (MCS) & Multipurpose Flood Shelters (MFS)

23 Cyclone Shelters of the Indian Red Cross Society were existing in 1999, saving thousands of lives. Taking the cue from that, the Government of Odisha constructed Multipurpose Cyclone Shelters and Flood Shelters in cyclone and flood-prone areas to provide safe shelters to vulnerable people during disasters. The Cyclone Shelter Buildings are designed to withstand a wind speed of 300 km per hour. The plinth level has been fixed above the recorded high tide level to prevent inundation by possible storm surges or high floods. Most of these buildings have been constructed within school premises for use as schools and for other community activities during normal times. Over the years 814 shelter buildings have been constructed in 25 cyclone & flood-prone districts. In addition to this, 65 MCS have been constructed by the Indian Red Cross Society, Odisha State Branch in different cyclone-prone villages. All the shelter buildings are stilted structures with sanitation facilities and separate halls for men and women. Both ramp & staircase have been provided for easy access to physically challenged persons to the first floor during any emergency. About 32 types of emergency equipment are provided to the cyclone and flood shelters. The equipment includes a noise-less diesel generator set, inflatable tower light, power saws, search & rescue equipment, foldable stretcher, florescent jackets, life jackets, life buoy, First Aid kit, siren, megaphone, free kitchen utensils, etc. Community-based Cyclone Shelter Management and Maintenance Committee (CSMMC)/ Flood Shelter Management and Maintenance Committee (FSMMC) constituted at the shelter level are responsible for the sustainable maintenance and management of these shelters by generating resources to put these buildings to income-generating use. The MCS buildings have been handed over to the respective CSMMCs/ FSMMCs. 50 Taskforce volunteers, both male and female in the age group of 18 to 35 from each shelter are being trained for 11 days on Search & Rescue, First Aid, and Operation & Maintenance of the equipment by master trainers from Civil Defence, St. John Ambulance, ODRAF personnel & District level Trainers. Training on effective Shelter Management to CSMMC/FSMMC members, training on Record Keeping & Standard Shelter Equipment Operational Skills are also provided. In addition, five thousand seven hundred fifty-eight (5758) primary schools & 1152 high school buildings have been constructed with assistance from PMNRF, CMRF, MPLAD, NFCR, OBB, other State Governments & NGOs. 3132 primary school buildings have been constructed & handed over under the DFID scheme. School buildings villages are also used as cyclone/flood shelters in an emergency.

Community-Based Disaster Preparedness

To reduce the vulnerabilities at the community level the Community Based Disaster Preparedness (CBDP) program was implemented from 2002 to 2009 in 16 coastal districts with the support of the Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with a goal of “Sustainable Disaster Risk Reduction of communities in the most hazard-prone districts”. The program components included (a.) Development of Disaster Management Plans at district, block, gram panchayat & village level and (b.) Constitution of Disaster Management teams & committees at all levels with adequate representation of women in all committees. It covered more than 23000 villages.

Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF)

Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF): In the post-super cyclone reconstruction and preparedness phase, it was felt necessary to constitute a professionally trained group equipped with state-of-the-art emergency equipment to assist the civil administration in search and rescue operation and relief line clearance for effective management of disasters. The Government of Odisha formed the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) in 2001. ODRAF units were carved out of the Orissa Special Armed Police (OSAP), Armed Police Reserve (APR), and India Reserve Battalions (IRB). At present, ODRAF has the strength of 20 units with each unit consisting of 50 personnel. The highly trained manpower of the ODRAF is capable of handling multifarious disasters. Since its inception, the ODRAF units have rendered valuable service in the event of natural as well as human-induced disasters in the State.

Disaster Resilient Housing:

For augmenting disaster-resilient houses, the Odisha Disaster Recovery Project (ODRP) has been taken up by OSDMA with World Bank support in the Phalin-affected areas of Ganjam, Puri, and Khordha districts. About 20,000 disaster-resilient houses within 5 km of the High Tide Line (HTL) are being constructed. A sum of Rs. 3.00 lakh is provided to each beneficiary for the construction of a 294 Sq.ft House having toilet, electricity & water supply facilities. Beneficiaries are also encouraged to build larger houses with their contribution. About 13,000 beneficiaries are being relocated to 141 relocation sites which have been developed into model habitations with all basic amenities like pipe water supply, electricity, internal road & drain, and waste management & community infrastructure.

Communication & Early Warning Dissemination System (EDWS)

 One bitter experience of the super cyclone was the disruption of all the traditional communication links. Precious response time was lost due to the collapse of communication networks. To overcome the problem the state-of-the-art Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) is being set up in cyclone shelters with different communication systems on a single platform to facilitate fail-safe two-way communication for disaster management. The EWDS would be a fool-proof communication system to address the existing gap in disseminating disaster warnings up to the community level. The project is implemented in 22 blocks under 6 coastal districts (Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri & Ganjam). The technology of EWDS includes Satellite Mobile Data Voice Terminals (SBMDVT), Digital Mobile Radio (DMR), Universal Communication Interface (UCI), Mass Messaging System, and Alert Siren System. The Alert Siren System has been established at 122 locations near the coast (within 1.5 km approximately) to cover Tourist Places, Fish Landing Centres, and coastal habitations. This system will help communicate both cyclone and tsunami warnings to the coastal population directly from the State Headquarters Besides, the telecommunication network has been upgraded and satellite phones have been provided to the district collectors and other key disaster managers to enable them to establish contact in the event of failure of all other means of communication. Efforts are also underway to promote Ham radio among youth clubs in vulnerable areas.

Lightning Early Warning Dissemination

 Lightning early warning dissemination systems in the state have been strengthened. Services of a USA-based firm “Earth Networks” have been hired to provide lightning forecasts for the state. Lightning early warnings are being disseminated through social media and mass SMSs through Location Based Alert Systems (LBAS).

Operational Systems for Integrated Disaster Risk Management

rRsk (Drought), Flood Monitoring, Ocean State Information & Tsunami Risk, Earthquake monitoring, Cyclone/storm surge, Road accidents, and Snakebite monitoring for better management of disasters. OSDMA in collaboration with the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) is implementing the project on “Operational Systems for Integrated Disaster Risk Management”, for strengthening OSDMA’s technical capacities through the development of various Decision Support System (DSS) tools to carry out dynamic assessment of risk in the key sectors and keeping officials informed of the potential situations. Under the project, a web/smartphone-based platform called “ SATARK” (System for Assessing, Tracking and Alerting Disaster Risk Information based on Dynamic Risk Knowledge) has been developed to provide real-time watch, alert, and warning information for different hazards like Heat Wave, Lightning, Agriculture

Disaster Management Planning OSDMA facilitated the preparation and implementation of the following plans at different levels:

1. District Disaster Management Plans (DDMP) in all the 30 districts of Odisha
2. Disaster Management Plans by different Departments of the Government of Odisha.
3. State Disaster Management Plan (SDMP).
4. Heat Wave Action Plan.
5. Village Disaster Management Plan (VDMP) in hazard-prone villages.
6. Tsunami Management Plan: in 328 Tsunami prone villages/ ULBs of 06 coastal districts. Training and Capacity Building
7. The Disaster Management Training Cell (DMTC) of OSDMA functioning at ROTI, Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar organizes basic and specialized training programs like Induction Course on Disaster Response (ICDR), Flood Rescue Boat (FRB) Operation, Medical First Responder (MRF), Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue (CSSR), Rope Rescue etc. for ODRAF personnel throughout the year.
8. Besides it also coordination with NDRF and various central and state government training institutes for specialized training of ODRAF personnel.
9. OSDMA organizes regular training programs for state and district-level officials on various aspects of disaster management.
10. Training of community-level volunteers and Task Force Volunteers of MCS/ MFS on First Aid and Search & Rescue is a regular activity.
11. Under the ‘Aapda Mitra’ scheme of NDMA, 400 numbers of community volunteers have been trained in disaster response in two flood-prone- Jagarsingjpur & Puri districts of Odisha.
12. Besides OSDMA also organizes training programs for Fire Service Personnel and others like Red Cross Counsellors, Civil Defense Volunteers, NCC, and NSS.
13. Mock Drills: OSDMA in collaboration with different departments, district administrations, response forces, and other stakeholders conducts Mock Drills for different disasters every year to assess emergency planning and preparedness to deal with various disasters.
14. Mock Drill on Flood & Cyclone in all the 30 Districts including MCS and MFS
15. Tsunami Mock Drill in 6 coastal Districts
16. Off-site mock drills on Chemical Disasters.
17. Mock Drill on Earth Quake.
18. Mock Drill on Crowd Management during Rathayatra in Puri

Awareness Generation Activities

• Massive awareness generation activities being carried out throughout the year with the help of print and electronic media on safety and survival related to Heat Wave, Lightning, Flood, Urban flooding, Cyclone, Tsunami, Drowning Prevention, Boat Safety, Snake Bite, Cold Wave etc. and preparation of emergency kit at the family level.
• Awareness on the norms of ex-gratia and assistances under SDRF also done through print media.
• Familiarization Exercise (FAMEX)/ Community Awareness Programmes (CAP) are also being conducted by ODRAF and Odisha Fire Service Units in different blocks of 30 districts of the state.

Institutional Arrangement for Disaster Management: The Disaster Management Act, 2005 came into force from 1st of August 2007 which lays down a three-tier institutional structure for disaster management at the National, State and District levels in the form of NDMA, SDMA and DDMA. Under the Act, the following institutions have been created at the State and District levels.

State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA): State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) has been constituted by the Government under sub-section (1) and (2) of section 14 of Disaster Management Act 2005 vide Revenue and Disaster Management Department Notification in October 2010.

The Chief Minister of Odisha is the ex-officio Chairperson and the Minister, Revenue and Disaster Management is the Vice-Chairman. The Chief Secretary is the Member-cum-ex-officio CEO of the SDMA.

State Executive Committee (SEC): The State Executive Committee (SEC) has been constituted by the Government under sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 20 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to assist the SDMA in the performance of its functions.

District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA): District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) have been constituted in all districts by the State Government under sub-section (1) and (2) of section 25 of the Disaster Management Act 2005 to oversee Disaster Management activities at District level.

The Collector is the Chairperson of DDMA and the Chairman, Zilla Parishad is the Co-Chairperson. The Revenue & Disaster Management Department is the nodal department of the Government of Odisha in matters related to Disaster Management in the State. The Revenue & DM Department has two distinct organizations working under it.

The Special Relief Organization looks after the relief, restoration, and rehabilitation aspects and the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) looks after the planning, preparedness, and prevention aspects of disaster management.

Special Relief Organization (SRO): The Special Relief Organization was created under the Board of Revenue in 1965-66. In the meantime, the organization has been integrated with the Revenue and Disaster Management Department. The Organization is headed by the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC). The SRO coordinates with districts/departments for relief and rescue operations. It coordinates recovery and reconstruction activities as well. The State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) is operational round the clock throughout the year at Rajiv Bhawan, Bhubaneswar with a state-of-the-art communication network.

Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA)

Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) was set up by the Government of Odisha as an autonomous organization, in the intermediate aftermath of the Super-cyclone in 1999. It was registered under the Societies Registration Act, of 1860 as a non-profit making institution in the larger interest of the people of Odisha, with its headquarters at Bhubaneswar and jurisdiction over the whole State. The Department of Revenue & DM is the administrative department of OSDMA. Subsequently, the name of the Authority was changed from Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority to Odisha State Disaster Management Authority.

 The Authority has the mandate not only to undertake mitigation activities but also to support the entire gamut of disaster management activities including the promotion of preparedness among all stakeholders as well as coordination with the line departments involved in reconstruction and recovery, coordination with bilateral and multi-lateral aid agencies, coordination with UN Agencies, International, National and State-level NGOs, Networking with relevant organizations for effective disaster management and building a disaster resilient State and promoting a culture of safety.

To reiterate, the OSDMA is entrusted with the following responsibilities:

1. Promote an integrated and coordinated system of disaster management including prevention and mitigation of disaster by the State, local authorities, other stakeholders, and communities.
2. Collect data on all aspects of disasters and disaster management, analyze it, and conduct research and studies on the potential effects of events that may result in disasters.
3. Act as a repository of information concerning disasters and disaster management. Prepare and update the policies and plans for disaster management in the State. Promote awareness and preparedness, advise and train the community and stakeholders to increase the capacity of the community and stakeholders to deal with potential disasters.
4. Coordinate and monitor activities relating to prevention and mitigation of disasters, including capacity-building.
5. Monitor the progress of the preparation and updating of disaster management plans and coordinate the implementation of such plans

REFERENCES

1. Disaster Management in Odisha
2. https://openscholar.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/4168
3. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pramod-Patil-12/publication/314216553_Disaster_Management in_India/links/58ba945f45851591c5de35a6/Disaster-Management-in-India.pdf
4. http://jraragra.in/Journals/2014Vol2/vol21.pdf
5. http://adpc.net/infores/adpc-documents/orissaeval.pdf
6. http://nidm.gov.in/PDF/Pubs/India%20Disaster%20Report%202011.Pdf