Cyclone Dana: Over 750 Relief Shelters Ready In Odisha, Says Minister Suresh Pujari

Bhubaneswar, Oct 22: Keeping in view of the impending severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’, the Odisha government has kept ready more than 750 cyclone shelters for people who will be evacuated from vulnerable areas.

Speaking to media persons here, Odisha’s Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari on Tuesday said officials have so far visited 250 cyclone relief centres where the people will be housed after evacuation.

Apart from these cyclone shelters, an additional 500 temporary shelters have been made ready including schools and colleges, the Minister added.

The Minister stated that officials at the ground level have been instructed to make arrangements for women in cyclone shelters where women police will be deployed.

Food, water, medicine, electricity and other essentials are kept in readiness for the people to be evacuated due to the impending cyclone, he said.

The Minister said the State government has also prepared a list of pregnant women who are expected to deliver in a fortnight. All those women are being shifted to the nearby hospital in order to avoid any difficulty during the calamity.

The Odisha government has already ordered closure of schools in Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Angul, Khurda, Nayagarh and Cuttack districts for three days from Wednesday, as a precautionary measure against the cyclone Dana.

The State government has also cancelled the leave of all staff from October 23 to 25.

Notably, the severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’ likely to be formed in the Bay of Bengal on October 23 is very likely to cross between Odisha’s Puri and Sagar Island in West Bengal during the night of 24th and early morning 25th October 2024 as a severe Cyclonic Storm with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting 120 kmph.