In the midst of political crises in Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue, the central and state government has a new challenge to tackle- the disruption caused by Cyclone Phailin that hit the state of Odisha on 9-10 October 2013. It was the strongest cyclonic storm to hit Odisha in 14 years with major impact in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. 30 lives have been taken due to floods in Odisha and 1 million people have been affected.
The government evacuated over four lakh people from vulnerable areas. As personnel of Army, IAF, Navy and NDRF were positioned here, there are still numerous cases of people who have lost their homes, family assets and land. Rains have also affected parts of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, East UP and Bihar.
However, before we start a blame game and politics of whose better, Isn’t it necessary to learn from this situation and be better managers of natural disasters in the coming years?
In the current crisis situation, the power supply has been affected and it is difficult for the local population- including farmers and fishermen to survive without shelter and power supply. As per news reports, in Andhra Pradesh, as many as 52,000 locals were evacuated and 25,000 people accommodated in cyclone shelters in Srikakulam. On 11 October 2013, 64,000 people in the north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh were evacuated to safer places. The Vizianagaram Collector Kantilal Dande, confirmed that 10,000 to 15,000 people living in vulnerable areas were evacuated and they were monitoring the situation on a minute-to-minute basis.
In such a situation, the concept of Special Control Rooms that have been set up in Kakinada, Ramachandrapuram and Amalapuram towns to monitor the situation are a good option and these need to be expanded given the warning of floods in Bihar too.
Thirteen special officers have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and 63 relief camps have been set up. However, the relief camps provision of food supplies and medicines is not enough. This needs to be addressed immediately as people in the shelters are in huge numbers.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, visited cyclone-ravaged Ganjam, toured flood-hit areas and announced a relief package including 50 kg of rice and Rs 500 for 14 days. Families in the less affected areas will get 25 kg of rice and Rs 300 for seven days. Will this be enough for the suffering lakhs of people?
The plan of using Naval and Coast Guard services that have been kept on standby in case of emergency is also a well planned strategy. Troops of Bison division of Indian Army moved to Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts to assist the respective district administrations in relief and rescue operations. The columns are equipped with mechanical power boats, life jackets and life saving medicine. The NDMA has deployed nearly 2,000 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.
29 teams of NDRF have been deployed along with rescue equipment in Odisha. In Andhra Pradesh, 15 teams have been deployed and four additional teams are also being rushed from Tamil Nadu, while seven teams have been deployed in West Bengal. They are equipped with satellite phones and wireless sets to maintain smooth communication, in case normal communication lines are affected due to the cyclone.
However, the expert disaster management teams need to focus on how to manage safe travel for passengers by trains and airways. Several flights from Bhubaneshwar have been cancelled due to bad weather. The government needs to overcome the damage to electricity infrastructure in Ganjam due to cyclone Phailin.
As news reports indicate, 22 high-tension electric towers were destroyed in the calamity that took place 14 years back; the recent cyclone broke at least 49 such towers in worst-hit Ganjam district alone. The state government’s preliminary estimates show it has to shell out over Rs 900 crore to restore the electricity apparatus ravaged in the cyclone-hit districts. How fast can this be restored?
An estimated 34,000km low-tension lines and 3,700km high tension lines have been damaged. The government and national disaster management teams need to work together to overcome the losses and plan for a steady recovery of infrastructure services soon. This will surely be a learning experience towards better management of natural and man-made calamities in India and its people who have recently suffered from riots, state creation crises and floods ranging from North to South
By Priyashree Andley
An independent analyst and focuses on International Relations, Foreign Policy and Current Affairs. She has several years of experience working in both the public and private sector. Her research has taken her across India with publications appearing in national as well as international media. Priyashree is a Felix Scholar from SOAS, London and has degrees from JNU and St. Stephens College, Delhi.