The Odisha government has begun identifying families living on and below landslide-prone hills in Kandhamal and Gajapati districts for evacuation to safer locations after the Gidipavalli landslide, Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari said on Wednesday.
The government is preparing a broader plan to prevent deaths and damage from similar incidents in the future, according to a report by The Samaja. The proposed response includes surveying residents in vulnerable hill areas, shifting them to safer sites and developing new settlements with housing for families that are relocated.
Pujari said Kandhamal and Gajapati contain hundreds of hills and several locations considered vulnerable to landslides. Officials have started a survey to determine how many people are living on hilltops and at the foothills in these risk-prone areas. The survey is expected to help the administration identify households that may need to be moved.
The minister said families moved from dangerous locations would be provided with new settlements in safer areas. The government would also make arrangements to provide them with houses, according to the report. The stated objective of the plan is to protect residents from disasters such as landslides by reducing exposure to unstable slopes and their immediate surroundings.
The announcement follows the landslide at Gidipavalli, where rescue operations are continuing. Pujari said families who survived the incident would be provided with houses. The district administration has been directed to continue the rescue operation and take necessary steps to keep the response under way at the site.
The proposed evacuation programme places the immediate response to the Gidipavalli incident alongside a wider exercise to map settlements in vulnerable hill areas. Its first operational step is the ongoing survey of residents living on or below hills identified as dangerous. The report does not specify the number of affected households, the locations selected for rehabilitation, the housing design, the funding arrangement or a completion timeline.
For residents in these areas, the government’s response will involve more than emergency rescue. It will require the administration to identify households, select safe relocation sites, build settlements and provide homes to families displaced from their existing locations. The details of how land, basic services and other facilities will be arranged have not yet been announced in the supplied report.
The government’s stated next steps are to complete the survey, identify people living in landslide-prone locations, continue rescue work at Gidipavalli and develop safer settlements for families requiring relocation. The district administration will remain responsible for continuing the rescue operation, while the wider plan is being prepared for vulnerable areas in Kandhamal and Gajapati.
