As an upcoming cyclone is likely to hit Odisha, the State would to face a natural disaster amidst Covid pandemic. The preparedness in disaster management has to be extraordinary. We cannot afford more casualties when we are already in an emergency. With basic interventions beforehand, it would be smoother on part of Government to effectively manage cyclone. Keeping in view earlier experiences and devastations State witnessed, a group of architects have come forward with some suggestions which could be used as guidelines by Government for effective management of disaster. According to their proposal, Corporators in municipal areas should be given powers like Sarpanches in gram panchayats authorising them to form small disaster management committees in their wards. Local NGOs and volunteers need to be involved.
The phone numbers of volunteers should be in public domain.Big trees should be identified on main roads and branches need to be trimmed besides alternate emergency corridors to be specified for smooth passage of ambulances, oxygen and vehicles on Covid service.
The branches of trees which may lead to breakage of glass or infrastructure in hospitals may be immediately trimmed A plan should be afoot in converting Kalyan Mandaps, community centres and hotels as temporary shelters with sufficient beds, oxygen and electricity backup along with manpower. Apart from these, ambulances should be converted to ICUs with power backup and oxygen facility. Similarly, trucks need to be converted to mini wards with basic facilities along with a small nurse's station and be placed under hospitals and should be made immediately available to places of rescue.
The group of architects also offered their service to be the volunteers for tele-audit to suggest minimum rearrangements. The architects who want to volunteer are Akshaya Beuria (9437008001), Snehasis Tripathy (9437135800), Krishnendu Nandy (9238328010), Debi Prasad Sahu (993704781), Arabinda Das (9437005031) and Sudhansu Samal (9437005550).