The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), under the pioneering leadership of its Chairman and Managing Director Bishnupada Sethi has stolen the show this time by bagging the coveted SKOCH Award. This is the highest independent honour in the country for the year 2018 recently, which was given to ODMA owing to remarkable contribution in the field of disaster management at the 56th SKOTCH Summit at New Delhi.

The OSDMA also received “Order-of-Merit” gold for building community resilience by constructing 879 multipurpose cyclone and flood shelters across the coastline and flood prone areas of Odisha which played a key role in saving human lives during cyclone Phailin in 2013.

The OSDMA added more feathers to its cap by receiving “Order-of Merit” silver for constructing disaster resilient houses to about 17,000 Phailin affected families by relocating them to 140 safer relocation sites equipped with all basic amenities and insuring their houses for 10 years against multi- hazard in Ganjam and Khordha districts and

“Order- of Merit” bronze for establishing an early warning dissemination system for different hydro- meteorological disasters across the coastline of Odisha which will benefit 1,205 villagers in 22 blocks of six coastal districts. System Expert and MIS specialist OSDMA, Arabinda Ray received the prestigious awards on behalf of OSDMA in the event. Earlier OSDMA has received ICHL award, 2013 for “Excellence in Humanitarian Action” in the field of disaster management and also has received many certification for effective management of disasters in the last years.

Notably, Sethi was earlier chosen for International Star Award for Leadership in Quality (ISLQ) in Paris in 2015.  He has also left indelible imprints while working for the prestigious organization like UNDP. Sethi has been conferred with the “Udyog Ratan Award” with gold medal and President Silver Award earlier for having successfully conducted census in Odisha in 2011.

Sethi in his remark to The Pioneer said, “This honour is no fluke. It is due to years of sustained hard work, indefatigable will and organised team work that has enabled us to receive this recognition at the national and international level. This is undoubtedly an enviable record for our State that will further inspire us to scale dizzy heights of glory in days ahead in management of floods and cyclones, to which our State is prone.”