Bhubaneswar: Kamal Kishore, member of the National Disaster Management Authority, who os on a three day visit to Odisha has appreciated Odisha’s response to Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani. He said the handling of the Cyclone Fani was World Class. Responding to media persons after his meeting with the Chief Secretary, he said “the State’s preparedness and the response to Fani from state to the community level was World Class,”.
The three member NDMA team visited Odisha to assess the loss caused in the aftermath of the Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani. The team members visited the devasted areas of Puri and Khordha on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today, they had a meeting with the Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi in the state secretariat. He said Odisha has created a record and set an example for disaster management that other states should emulate.
According to Kamal Kishore, “wherever the places that we visited, we have heard and seen about the satisfaction level of the people in rescue and relief operations. The cyclone shelters have been well managed with the State Government scheme of Apadamitras.”
The Chief Secretary has said that the phase of rehabilitation and restoration is going on and we welcome the technical expertise and guidance from NDMA in these works.
The Chief Secretary appraised the team members that the Rs 1000 crore released earlier after the PM’s declaration has exhausted and requested for early release of Rs 5200 crore from NDRF.
The meeting of the CS and the members of the NDMA dealt with mainly the post Fani restoration work. The team has been satisfied with the Odisha’s concerns. The filed visit of the team members to various cyclone-affected areas showed massive destruction to housing, power distribution, telecom and livelihood. The NDMA has assured to would work in close collaboration with the State for restoration.
Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi informed the members that around 1.35 lakh houses were damaged fully or severely, 1.40 lakh pucca and 2.72 lakh kuchha were damaged partially, 7.547 huts and 1.19 cowsheds were damaged fully. The crop loss to the extent of 33% and above took place in 146311 hectares.
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