Mahakalapara: Tsunami warning systems (TWSs) have been installed at various places under this block in Kendrapara district to help people living near the coastlines in timely evacuation. The villages under this block are always at the receiving end of natural calamities due to their close proximity to the coastlines. The warning systems on towers will alert people living near the shorelines 45 minutes before the advent of tsunamis. A TWS is used to detect tsunamis in advance and issue the warnings to prevent loss of life and damage to property. The warning systems installed by the Centre will ring sirens which will be heard up to a distance of 2 km.
As a result, this will help people living near the shorelines or in low-lying areas to move to safer and higher places so that they can prevent loss of life and damage to properties. According to reports, 10 high-powered towers were constructed in 2017- 18 for installation at various places of the block. After their completion, these towers have been installed at Sasan Peta, Ratapanka, Narsinghpur, Kandrapatia, Uttar Jambu, Jambu lock (fishing jetty), Kajalpatia, Dakhina Khola, Bada Tubi under Batighar panchayat and on the premises of Mahakalapara block office. Tsunami is caused when an area inside the deep sea is shaken by intense earthquakes.
One should be on alert that shorelines located within a certain radius of the earthquake’s epicentre may be hit by a tsunami. Another more immediate and ominous sign of an approaching tsunami is a rapid and unexpected recession of water level well below the expected low tide. As a result, tidal waves move towards the shorelines at a speed of 500 km per hour and destroy the lives of people and properties living near the shorelines.
Block officials said that though the TWSs have been installed here but the control room of the towers will be at Hyderabad. A senior resident Subhash Chandra Swain said that these towers will be of great help to the villagers living near the coastlines to save their lives and properties during an impending tsunami. A villager Hrushikesh Giri of Kandrapatia village said that their longstanding demands have been fulfilled after the installation of towers.
