Bhubaneswar:  On the occasion of ‘World Drowning Prevention Day’, Utkal University, as a part of its Disaster Management awareness programme, has joined hands with Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) & Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) to release an illustrative booklet meant to educate the students at the elementary level regarding State-specific disasters. The booklet has been developed by the University under the RUSA 2.0 project.

It may be noted that the state government of Odisha had declared 8 natural calamities lightning, whirlwind, tornado, heavy rain, sunstroke, boat accident, drowning, and snakebite as State specific disasters on April 1st 2015. Drowning is one of the major calamities that people of all age groups especially children face in day-to-day life due to lack of awareness and negligence. This booklet has been specially designed to make it interesting for students to read the valuable information on drowning and it will be distributed among students in rural parts of the state, said a media relesed issued by the university.

Speaking on the occasion Prof. Sabita Acharya, Vice-Chancellor, Utkal University, said “As a part of Utkal’s community linkage and Rural Outreach programme, the varsity plans to impart water safety and safe rescue skills to the students of the elementary stage with the help of OSDMA and ODRAF”.

-OdishaAg