Bhubaneswar: Although the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in Odisha has claimed to have responded well to Cyclone Titli – the latest natural disaster that hit the state, the situation on the ground is quite distressing. While Opposition parties blamed the BJD for gross mismanagement of the natural disaster, the state government has claimed that the Centre has not had time to check on the state even several days after the disaster.
Opposition parties Congress and BJP have alleged that the Patnaik government is seizing the disaster as an opportunity to win votes by distributing money, as elections loom on the horizon. The opposition parties have also claimed that while the government is taking credit for evacuating three lakh people to cyclone shelters and homes provided under the Odisha Disaster Recovery Project post-Cyclone Phailin (which hit the state in 2013), the residents of Gajapati district were not evacuated despite repeated alerts of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
“It is unfortunate that politicians are engaged in exchange of words rather than concentrating on rebuilding the disaster affected area,” commented advocate Sankar Pani. He questioned why the Union home minister hadn’t yet visited the affected areas despite being in charge of disaster management.
Over the years, Odisha has always had an unfortunate tryst with disasters: the super cyclone of 1999 took 10,000 lives (unofficially estimates are as high as 25,000), the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2013 Cyclone Phailin forced the evacuation of 15 million people and the 2014 Cyclone HudHud disrupted many lives on the coast.
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It is rather unfortunate that the father of an eight-year-old girl has to carry his daughter’s dead body on his shoulders for eight km, walking through forests, while people, including policemen, merely look on. The police even took photographs, but did not help. When they sensed that the media could cover the episode like it did the Dana Majhi incident (Majhi, a poor tribal from Odisha’s backward Kalahandi district, had in 2016, walked ten km carrying the body of his wife on his shoulders because he couldn’t pay to transport it), the police in Gajapati district finally arranged an auto rickshaw for the father to carry his daughter’s body.
The girl had drowned in the flash floods triggered by Cyclone Titli, which hit the coasts of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on October 11. She had been missing since then and was traced by villagers near a spring after eight days. The victim Banita is the daughter of Mukunda Dora of Atankpur village under Rayagad Block of Gajapati district.
Cyclone Titli, which had a landfall near Palasa in Andhra Pradesh, has had catastrophic effects in various parts of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. At the time of reporting, 61 people have been confirmed dead. Of them, 49 are from the Gajapati district, which has been hit the worst. Search parties are looking for ten missing people.
Two blocks in Gajapati district – Gosani and Rayagad – suffered saw life and properties loss. The cyclone inundated many areas in the district and marooned lakhs of people. Besides, a massive landslide in Mahendragiri Hills destroyed the entire village of Baraghar under Gangabad gram panchayat in Gosani Block. Seventeen of 21 persons who were seeking shelter in a hideout cave drowned. Another 30 were killed elsewhere in the district due to heavy wind speed, wall collapses, drowning and roof damage.
Titli has affected more than six million people in over 8,125 villages under 128 Blocks of 17 districts. The loss is pegged at Rs 2,765 crore. “Yes, the IMD had issued warnings for 17 districts including Gajapati, but nobody had expected that it would continue to rain for three days and go beyond 250 mm,” said deputy relief commissioner, Odisha, Pravat Kumar Mohapatra.
Landslides are a relatively recent phenomenon in Odisha, he added. “As the chief minister announced in his last visit to Gajapati district, we will map the vulnerability to landslides,” said Mohapatra.
Further, he added that they are concentrating on relief and restoration work and that officials have been asked to produce detailed assessments within the week. The government will reportedly rebuild the houses and distribute the compensation for crop damage shortly.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has sought Rs 1,000 crore interim relief from the Centre. Patnaik has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release the amount at the earliest. He also urged the PM to sanction funds for rebuilding 57,131 damaged houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. He said 20,000 houses have fully collapsed and 36,508 houses have been partially damaged. The CM stated that 2.63 lakh hectares of agricultural land has been damaged, while 34,951 domestic animals died.
Damage in Gajapati
In Gajapati district alone, 1.44 lakh families have been affected and more than 80,000 hectares of standing crop was lost. Of this area, paddy fields are about 39,123 hectares. Of the 30 districts in the state, Gajapati with a population of 5.75 lakh is the third least populated. Tribals and Dalits constitute a majority of the population.
“Though the government agencies have started distributing relief among the affected people, it is grossly inadequate,” said Md. N. Amin, president of Adhikat, an organisation that works with disaster affected people in partnership with GOONJ. Amin and his team have recently been to the district to assess the situation.
The government has not reached out to people in distress even several days after the disaster. People still are living in makeshift houses, trying to rebuild their houses with local resources, added Amin. Government reports also confirmed that only 25% damage assessment survey has been done.
According to the district administration, compensation has been distributed among 1.09 lakh households. Of the total Rs 14.44 crore received from the state government, Rs 11.53 crore has been sent to accounts of the victims and ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to kin of those who died. The government has supplied rice, polythene sheets and other materials to local authorities for distribution.
“Though the government has cancelled holidays and instructed offices to be open, many are still closed. Who will carry these materials to the people?” quipped local activist Bhikari Nayak.
Nayak added that even after a week, initial estimates and surveys haven’t been done in many villages. Assessments are being done from the district headquarters, only considering available statistics.
Cyclone alerts came at the last minute
People in the affected areas were not properly informed and alerts came only when the cyclonic storm intensified. People started taking precautionary steps only then. But to a large extent, many stayed back in their homes. In some places, ward members alerted people over phone at the last minute. By then, it had already started to rain and the wind speed had taken shape.
Locals told The Wire that government officials did not arrive and neither were public announcements made. Having experienced cyclonic alerts over the last few years, people thought it would not affect them and expected the landfall to be restricted to Gopalpur, which is close to the coast.
“The losses could have been minimised had precautionary steps been taken much earlier,” said Salman Paika, a resident of Bapuji Nagar under Mohana Block in Gajapati district.
Also read: Why India Struggles to Predict the Weather Over Its Lands
Relief and damage assessment
Many people complained that nobody had reached them even after five days of the cyclone. Besides cooked food at some places, emergency relief has not been provided. People expressed concern over the government’s preparedness. The arrival of government officials is still be awaited so damage can be assessed.
Livelihoods of people in affected areas has been severely hit. Daily wage labourers are unable to find work and are still trying to repair the damage to their houses.
In many places, paddy, maize and vegetable crops have been damaged, plants and trees uprooted. With small shops and business establishments in districts suffering losses, shops have downed their shutters.
Restoration
Though the government has started restoration work on a war-footing, connecting roads to villages, thoroughfares and approach roads have not been repaired. Restoration of electricity to villages will take more time. Power is being supplied to road points and roadside towns.
Getting safe drinking water has been a mammoth task for many as water bodies and supply lines have been affected. Wells and ponds are the only available sources, but the risk of spreading of water-borne diseases has increased. As natural drainage has been choked, flood waters of rivers are flowing in to agriculture land and human habitations in many places.
“There is no coordination among government officials and departments. There is a huge gap in information dissemination in both pre and post-disaster situations,” said secretary of United Artists Association Manga Raj Panda.
Panda said while the government may provide relief and restore the roads, buildings and bridges, the livelihoods of millions who depend on forest resources and minor forest products could have suffered irreparable damage.
“Government offices are closed though they are supposed to expedite the relief and restoration work,” said Lokanath Mishra of Ganjam District Disaster Action Forum. As things stand today, it will be a huge challenge for the government to bring back normalcy in affected areas as many have lost their only source income: agriculture,” stated Mishra.
“People’s perception on possible or likely impact of cyclonic storm needs to be changed,” stated secretary of Jana Kalyan Pratisthan based in Paralakhemundi district headquarters town of Gajapati, Durga Madhab Panda. Madhab Panda opined that there is a need for a long term plan on DRR, Disaster Management and Responses.
Sudarshan Chhotoray is an Independent Journalist based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.