Odisha was India’s first state to put in place a disaster management authority. Over the years, OSDMA has worked on capacity-building, preparedness and disaster management. Odisha will restructure its state disaster management authority to shift its focus from preparedness and disaster response to risk reduction and resilience, 25 years after the agency was set up after the 1999 super cyclone that killed more than 10,000 people, the body said in a resolution.
“Current global policies focus on synergy between disaster risk management and climate change In the light of changing landscapes, it has become crucial to strengthen the organisational structure of OSDMA (Odisha State Disaster Management Authority) in line with national frameworks and guidelines and build its own capacity with a view to move from mitigation, preparedness, response and reconstruction to disaster risk reduction and resilience in a holistic manner,” the agency said in a resolution issued on Friday.
Odisha was India’s first state to put in place a disaster management authority. Indeed, it was set up six years before the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was established, in 2005, following the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 25,000 people.
Nibedita Ray-Bennett, lecturer in Risk Management in the School of Management at University of Leicester and a social scientist specialising in disaster risk reduction, said though OSDMA has addressed preparedness and response to natural disasters quite well keeping the death toll low in most disasters after the 1999 super cyclone, risk reduction through disaster resilient housing infrastructure is yet to be implemented in the risk prone areas. “Lot of work also needs to be done in post-disaster recovery so as to minimise the recovery. Besides, the state needs to work on underground power supply as the state is vulnerable to frequent tropical storms. So the shift in thinking is welcome,” she said.
Over the years, OSDMA has worked on capacity-building, preparedness and disaster management.
However, the agency has fallen short in its post-disaster response as well as in preventing large-scale damage to infrastructure and primary sectors like agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry.
For instance, in the wake of Cyclone Fani in 2019, the state suffered losses worth ₹8,138 crore. The cyclone also battered homes, damaging nearly 362,000 units across 14 districts.
According to a state government estimate, the combined economic losses to the state from the last three cyclones – Phailin, Titli, and Fani – has been around ₹40,474 crore.
Since then, Odisha has moved away from disaster response to disaster resilience, said officials. In June 2020, the state government, during a visit by the inter-ministerial central team to assess the damage caused by cyclone Amphan, asked the Union government for a ₹20,000-crore package for the creation of a disaster-resilient infrastructure in the state.
The state has also departed from the conventional approach to disaster management by placing local communities – gram panchayats, women’s self-help groups and a 100,000-plus cadre of volunteers – trained to reduce disaster risk and manage rescue and relief operations.