United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognise the two coastal villages of Odisha as “Tsunami Ready” for their overall preparedness to face the tsunami.
Odisha became the first state in India and India became the first country in the Indian Ocean Region to achieve this status of “Tsunami ready” from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.
The two villages are,
Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) village of Rangeilunda block in Ganjam district
Noliasahi village of Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur district.
Indian Ocean Tsunami Ready Programme of IOC- UNESCO is a programme based on the community performance to facilitate tsunami preparedness with the collaboration of the Community, leaders, and national and local emergency
management agencies.
IOC-UNESCO was established in 1960 as a body with functional autonomy within UNESCO and is the only competent organization for marine science within the UN system.
The IOC is recognized through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as the competent international organization in the fields of Marine Scientific Research and Transfer of Marine Technology.