Essay On THE SUPER CYCLONE (A Killer)

Cyclone Hit Bhubaneshwar

People who had lived for years in Bhubaneshwar, could not recognise the city after the super cyclone hit the capital of Orissa. The super cyclone hit Orissa at a speed ranging between 240-260 km per hour on October 29, 1999. All the trees and electric poles were uprooted. There was no sign of any hoarding or bill-boards and people could not recognise even their colonies. Everything was uprooted.

Second Worst Cyclone of Country

Indian Meteoro logical scientists called it the century’s second worst cyclone. It hit the Orissa coast and behaved exactly as predicted. ‘Rarely does a prediction come so close to the actual happening. Met officials traced the depression in the sea as early as October 25, 1999. They issued the first alert on the morning of October 27, 1999. About 12 hours before the cyclone hit Orissa on October 29, the Met Department alerted the Orissa State Administration.

Prediction unheeded

Nature had also lulled the government as well as the public. Twelve days earlier a cyclone had hit Ganjam and passed without causing much damage. So when the Met Department warning came, neither the government nor the public took it seriously. When the cyclone hit the state, there was only one sat-phone at Chief Minister’s residence. For first 48 hours there was no knowledge of cyclone tragedy’s loss.

Rescue Work

The armed forces took the major portion of relief and resume operations in their hands. Navy used helicopters to drop supply. The Indian Air Force delivered more than 10 tonnes of food packets in the cyclone devastated region. In addition to this packets of essential medicines including water sterilisation kits were distributed. Many boats, generator sets, bull-dozers, ambulance cars and pumping sets etc. were used into rescue work to provide immediate relief.

Misuse of Relief Materials

Orissa became the destination of relief materials from all over the world. More than the cyclone-affected people, politicians, officers, middlemen and looters were delighted on the arrival of these items of succour. For they thought to have a grab from these materials. Tarpaulin donated by foreign Non-Government Organisations became a favourite with many senior politicians and officers. They found tarpaulin more useful in covering their cars instead of sending it to its target. A volunteer remarked, “the superior quality of relief items would prompt anybody to keep at least a few of them. One would never find such imported items in Orissa.”

Grave Situtaion Created

The scale of calamity threw a gigantic challenge for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. In addition to restoration and reconstruction activities for immediate relief health and sanitation measures were provided. A continuous effort would be required to restore the livelihoods of the cyclone victims.

Magnitude of Misery

The havoc caused by super cyclone could have been avoided if Orissa’s mangrove forests had not been destroyed to develop shrimp farms. According to government decision five cyclone detection radars in the eastern part of the country would be replaced by more advanced Doppler Weather Radars. The loss was colossal and words are not enough to describe the magnitude of human misery. In this hour of crisis, the spirit of humanity was on test. The Prime Minister issued a nation wide appeal for help to the cyclonic-affected.

Authorities and people to share blame

What is unpardonable is that it was not something which cou have caught the authorities by surprise, like an earthquake. The Bay of Bengal has always been known for its fierce cyclones, and yet every time one of them strikes the coastal regions, whether in India or in Bangladesh, hundreds of lives are lost, crores of rupees of property is devastated and the officials and politicians behave as if this was the first time such a calamity has occurred. Their failure is all the more inexplicable because advance warnings, which have become far more reliable now because of the satellite pictures, are available well in time. However, it may not be fair to blame the authorities alone because the local people often show a curious reluctance to move to safer places inland. At a time when transistors are found in the remotest of villages, surely they cannot claim to have been caught unawares. Since the cyclones are a regular feature in the region, the local people must be aware of what lies in store if they do not take precautionary measures.

Vocabulary

Prediction- fore-telling, Alert- watchful, Trace- discover, search, Depression- reduction, Succour- a help at the time of need, आवश्यकता के समय दी गई सहायता Calamity- great distress Bulwark- shelter, wall against danger, Magnitude – size, largeness, Grab- catch, seize.

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