People outside a cyclone shelter centre in Gopalpur on Sunday. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Oct. 12: People heaved a sigh of relief as the cyclonic storm Hudhud drifted from Gopalpur coast without causing much damage to the district.

“We were prepared to face any eventuality. We intended to evacuate about 1.5 lakh people from vulnerable areas to safer places during the initial stage when we were tracking the storm. But after we were assured that it has changed its course, we decided that evacuation was not required. Only about 20,000 people living in low-lying areas were shifted to official shelters on Saturday,” said district collector Prem Chandra Chowdhury.

During the Phailin last year, many people were shifted as the cyclonic storm had hit the district directly, collector said.

“We are aware that it would rain incessantly for the next one or two days. We have identified 350 shelter centres in the low-lying and flood-prone areas where dry rations, including rice, dal and others, have been kept ready,” he said.

Shelter saga

Those who have shifted to shelter homes in Gopalpur and Berhampur today complained of mismanagement and lack of basic amenities.

N. Gurayya, a resident of Sai Baba Colony at Gopalpur, whose family has taken shelter at the Saraswati Sishu Mandir from Saturday night, said the notified area council (NAC) Gopalpur authority has not provided them with food and drinking water till today.

“The police personnel asked us to vacate our houses and take shelter at the Sishu Mandir. About 30 families are staying here without any food or water. When today the authorities failed to give us food, many of us came back to our houses, cooked our food and then again returned to the centre,” Gurayya said.

In Mohammedan Girls’ UP School at Khwaja Sahi in Bhubaneswar, the municipal corporation gave a packet of flattened rice of 250 grams and less than 50 grams of jaggery to each family today morning. About 60 families of Maminabad slum area have taken shelter in this centre.

“Eight members of my family have taken shelter in this centre. But the authority has provided us a packet of flattened rice of 250 grams and less than 50 grams jaggery to the entire family. The headmaster of the school told us that they would provide us cooked food for lunch. But he went away after locking the store room at 1pm. Every family purchased rice, dal and vegetables from the local market and prepared the food themselves,” Shyama Begum said.

Daily wager Seikh Abdullah, who took shelter at the same centre, said: “Our houses in the Maminabad slum area are in unhygienic condition and here, too, it is no different.”

However, not all are unhappy with the kind of treatment that has been meted out at the shelter centres. About 400 residents of Pichipichia Nagar who took shelter at Government Municipal Girls’ High School on Aska Road in Berhampur are happy with the arrangements. They were provided with flattened rice and jaggery in the morning and rice and dalma in lunch.

Birthday bash

Amid all the fear about Hudhud, people in the shelter centres found reasons to cheer themselves up. People at Government Municipal Girls’ High School in Berhampur celebrated the birthday of Phailin Gouda, who was born at a shelter centre in October last year when Phailin struck.

“My son Phailin was born at 4am on October 12, 2013. The weather was very bad and it was impossible to go outside at that time. I am really indebted to all those who helped my wife during the delivery,” Anand said.

With people having experienced the devastation of Phailin last year, everyone is doing their bit this time to save the land from the clutches of another storm. Women of the Purnabasi Colony under ward number 12 of Gandhi Nagar were busy offering puja to a tree to appease the goddess and prayed for lesser impact of the Hudhud.