Bhubaneswar, Oct. 13: When the 1999 supercyclone struck Odisha, Chandrababu Naidu, as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, was the first to lend a helping hand.
It’s time for Odisha to return the favour as a truncated Andhra Pradesh, led by Naidu, lies in tatters in the wake of cyclone Hudhud.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has not let down his neighbour. In a much comfortable position with Hudhud having practically spared Odisha, he has already despatched a quick response team comprising 300 handpicked experts from Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire services to the neighbouring state to assist in rescue and rehabilitation efforts.
The team, according to state government sources, is carrying sophisticated equipment, including high-power cutters, night glasses and generators. It will begin the road-clearing exercise in Andhra from the Odisha end of the border where the movement of vehicular traffic has been hit by the storm that uprooted massive trees apart from electricity and telephone poles.
The operation assumes special significance in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Andhra Pradesh tomorrow to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the cyclone. Modi will also undertake an aerial survey of the affected areas of Odisha.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeepta Kumar Mohapatra, who was the collector of Puri when the state was hit by the supercyclone, recalled Naidu’s help. “We had a tough time dealing with the situation but our neighbour’s gesture made it easy for us. Now, since we have the required manpower and infrastructure, it is our duty to help them in their hour of need.”
Tackling the supercyclone that left nearly 10,000 people dead and 1.67 million homeless while destroying 2.75 lakh houses was the biggest challenge that Odisha had ever faced. The total losses amounted to a staggering $4.5 billion.
For days together in the wake of the supercyclone, many people were unable to come out of their houses and roads unfit for vehicles with them littered uprooted trees and electric poles. “The first rescue teams came from Visakhapatnam and began clearing the roads. Relief trucks moved only after that. Naidu became an overnight hero in Odisha,” said a member of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), which was formed in the wake of the tragedy.
Wiser from that experience, the state government also formulated a new disaster management policy and renamed the revenue department as the department for revenue and disaster management.
Cyclone shelters were set up in all the coastal districts that remain prone to natural disasters.
Odisha is now repaying Naidu’s debt, and quite generously at that.
“Under the instruction of the chief minister, we have already sent 300 trained personnel to Andhra Pradesh armed with cutters, generator sets and other equipment. They have been divided into 30 teams,” Mohapatra.
While 20 teams have gone to Visakhapatnam, 10 others have been deputed to Vijaynagaram as these areas of the neighbouring state bore the brunt of Hudhud. “They will go on removing obstacles on the roads. We will bear all expenses of the operation,” said the SRC.
The state government has also mounted a massive rehabilitation and restoration exercise in the districts hit by Hudhud with focus on southern Odisha.
The office of the special relief commissioner said around 48,000 thatched houses, 24 transformers, 600 electric poles and 75km of electric wire had been damaged by the cyclone. While 25,000 houses have been damaged in Koraput district, 15,000 were destroyed in Gajapati followed by 7,000 in Rayagada and 1,000 in Malkangiri.
The SRC said 2.33 lakh people had been evacuated from danger zones and lodged in 2,029 centres around the state. These people today started returning to their homes
