For timely dissemination of cyclone and Tsunami alerts among coastal people, the state government announced to set up 122 alert siren towers under the early warning dissemination system. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced it here while dedicating 100 more multipurpose cyclone and flood shelters in 17 districts through videoconferencing from the state secretariat.

• The World Bank-assisted project would come up in 22 blocks of six coastal districts including Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Puri and Ganjam. An estimated amount of Rs 65 crore would be spent for the project.
• Under the system, the emergency operation centres at state headquarters, district and block level would be interconnected.
• “If there would be any cyclone or Tsunami alert, a warning siren would be issued from any of the three emergency operation centres which would be circulated through the warning towers.
• Each tower can disseminate warning within a radius of 1.5 to 2 km area,” said an official of the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).
• Construction of all the 122 towers would be completed by April, 2017.In the absence of early warning system, around 10,000 people were died during the super cyclone that hit the coastal states during 1999.
• As Odisha hit by natural disasters like flood and cyclone almost every year, the chief minister on the occasion said the state government set a target to construct total 879 multipurpose flood and cyclone shelters by December, 2016.