A State-level consultation on “Community-Resilient Building” was organised by the Caritas India in collaboration with the OSDMA here.
The purpose of the consultation was to enhance and strengthen the coordination between civil society organisations and Government in enhancing community-resilient building focussing on disaster risk reduction, protection of income and livelihood, disaster resilient housing and health services.
The representatives of OSDMA and Emergency officers of six coastal districts of Odisha including civil society organisations attended the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief General Manager, OSDMA, Sashmita Behera highlighted the key activities of OSDMA focussing on community resilient building against the disasters. She pointed out that as a part of Fani rehabilitation, the Government has built 13,000 disaster resilient houses in Ganjam district in co-financing with the World Bank.
Additional Secretary to Government of Odisha Maheswar Panigrahi explained that house constructions in the seashore area need to be redesigned and the resilient houses in coastal district is very much needed.
Ramachandra Panda said that 80% of the buildings are non-engineered and even if those are engineered but not disaster resilient.
The masons build the houses according to their traditional knowledge. The masons need to be trained on house construction, he added.
Deliberating on the issues of health during disasters, Dr Brajesh Merta from UNICEF said there is a need to remove impediments by improving capacities of health personnel, increasing awareness of people and developing infrastructure facilities in disaster affected areas etc.
Chaudhuri Sripati Mishra, team leader of Mission Shakti, Government of Odisha highlighted that the Government is promoting livelihood resilience through digital empowerment of 70 lakhs women of Odisha.
The representatives of Government and non-Government organisations discussed a plan of actions.