Careful planning minimized casualties. NIGHTMARE: Big relief task ahead after cyclone strike.

Mail Today – 1 hour 7 minutes ago

By Rakesh Dixit

BHUBANESHWAR: A MASSIVE human tragedy and relief nightmare is unfolding in Orissa in the wake of Cyclone Phailin which has left at least 23 people dead and thousands others homeless even as meticulous advance planning minimised casualties.

Hours after Phailin hit the state just south of Gopalpur at a wind speed of 200 km/ h - it later increased to 220 km/ h moving inland - state government authorities began bracing themselves for the rebuilding task ahead.

Special relief commissioner Pradipta Mohapatra gave an indication of the mind- numbing figures available on the basis of the initial estimates.

He said more than 80 lakh people had been hit by the gale in 14,575 villages across 14 districts. This apart, 39 cities and towns have been hit by the super storm, disrupting power and communication lines.

A LONG Continued from page 1 highest in Ganjam which reported 12 casualties. Over seven lakh hectares of agricultural land has been inundated by tidal surges caused by the storm.

On Sunday, the authorities realised there was little time to lose. Fifteen helicopters were pressed into service for relief and rescue operations in the affected areas, the worst hit districts being Berhampur and Puri. The government has engaged over 3,000 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force ( NDRF) and 2,000 army personnel and kept 18 helicopters, 12 aircraft and two warships at the ready for rescue and relief operations realising that having got through the first stage of saving lives, they need to quickly recover.

Two outside surrounded debris fisherman's in Gopalpur, Phailin landfall Saturday.

Getting back Twelve columns of the army are involved clearing roads, while officials from the telecom and railway ministries are working round the clock to restore railway traffic and communication networks. Officials from NTPC and NHPC are helping to restore power supply. Meanwhile, the East Coast Railway on Sunday resumed train services and ran some special trains carry stranded passengers.

Revenue and Disaster Management minister Surjya Narayan Patro said steps were being taken to ensure that people received enough relief material to keep them going for the next few days. The next few days would continue to be difficult.

Met department sources said while the cyclone had weakened and might change course, there would be more rains in the state under its impact. Puri and Ganjam districts have already recorded a rainfall of 100 mm each in the last 12 hours.

The scene in Gopalpur and Berhampur testified to the severity of the cyclone with thousands of houses damaged most them with their roofs ripped off, electric poles twisted out of shape, telephone wires smashed and roads littered with uprooted trees. The worst hit were those who had ' kutcha' houses. These were decimated by the force of the cyclone, their belonging of their residents flung out.

Among the cities, Bhubaneswar and the port town of Paradip bore the brunt of the cyclone which lashed them throughout Saturday night and Sunday morning completely disrupting power and communication lines. Many areas in Bhubaneswar remained without water. Train services continued to be affected for the second consecutive day today while many long distance buses from the state capital were cancelled.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a series of meetings on Sunday to review the situation. In Delhi, top sources said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally monitoring the situation and has directed Central agencies to extend full support to the state government to restore normalcy in the aftermath of the cyclone. Cabinet Secretary Ajith Seth chaired a meeting of the Crisis Management Group to assess the damage and coordinate rescue and relief efforts.

Armed with an almost accurate prediction of the cyclone time and path, the preparedness and speedy evacuation plans by various agencies, Phailin's impact was kept to a minimum in terms of casualties.

"Our efforts have paid off. The cyclone's impact was minimum," vice- chairman of NDMA M. Shasidhar Reddy said. There was reason to be satisfied on this front. A super cyclone, which had hit Orissa in 1999, left close to 10,000 people dead. This time, the government had successfully evacuated lakhs and put them in more than 500 cyclone shelters.

The cyclone shelters constructed under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project can withstand wind speeds of up to 300 km/ h.

According to M. Mohapatra, Scientist ( Cyclone Warning) with the IMD, by 5.30 am on Sunday morning the cyclone started showing signs of weakening with the wind speed reducing to 160- 170 km/ h.

He however, added that it is still a very severe cyclonic storm.

The National Executive Council, which was almost non- functional till the Uttarakhand flash floods disaster, has been reactivated.

According to officials, the Home Secretary took its meetings daily to finalise coordinating mitigation and relief preparedness with various Central ministries, departments, army, air force, navy, NDRF and the two state governments.

With Mail Today in New Delhi 12 columns of Army are involved in clearing roads, while telecom and railway ministries are working to restore railway traffic & communication network rehabilitation involve lakhs land - saltwater damaged land cyclone communication especially areas and CHALLENGES

After wreaking havoc in coastal belts of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, cyclonic storm Phailin weakened further turning into a deep depression on Sunday evening. M. Mohapatra of the Met Department said Phailin's wind- speed had reduced to 45- 55 kmph. It was expected to weaken further on Sunday night, he said.

RECOVERY IN THE PATH OF PHAILIN

Ganjam, where the cyclone hit India, was the worst hit district Following its landfall at Gopalpur, Phailin immediately moved towards Berhampur and Chhhatrapur in Ganjam, then to Puri, Khurda, Balasore and Jagatsinghpur The cyclone's peak lasted five hours A flood warning has been issued in Bihar. The catchment areas of Kosi and Gandhak rivers will receive heavy rainfall over the next 48 hours, particularly on October 15, which might trigger a flood- like situation Srikakulam district in Andhra received rainfall of up to 20 cm in a day and was badly affected In Jharkhand, powerful winds uprooted trees and roofs of houses in Latehar, Gumla and Hazaribagh districts. Many districts remained without power.

Following a forecast of heavy rain, over 1,000 villagers were evacuated on Sunday from from five inundated villages situated between Musaboni and Dumaria.