EFFECTS AND REMEDIAL MEASURES OF 1999 SUPERCYCLONE IN THE COASTAL DISTRICT OF ODISHA: A CASE STUDY OF PURI DISTRICT

Abstract

The 1999 Super Cyclone at Jagatsinghpur. Hundreds of schoolchildren participated in the rally which started from Gandhi Chowk to collect orate field. Later, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of district collector Mr Gyanranjan Dash, SP Mr S. Debdautta Singh sub-Collector Murlidhar Mallick ADM Sanjib Mishra and other senior officials of the district were present. District collector Mr Das informed that Rs 8 cores to be spent saline embankment. Local MLA Mr Bishnu Das and zilla arishad president Mr Nat bar Barik were also present. In October 1999 a super-cyclone caused extensive damage to lives, livelihoods ... Preparations were made to begin field work in Kendrapara District from the ... were in 2008 guided by the recently framed. Orissa state is vulnerable to disasters such as flood, cyclones and storm surges. ... Through project Aparajita in the year 1999 soon after the upper Cyclone 1999. ... The project is currently operational in Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts earth, said a survivor, was bliss, compared to the living-hell for those managing exist. The Orissa cyclone, though a natural calamity, has become a man-made disaster a holocaust of monstrous proportions. On October 17th '99, the first cyclone struck Ganjam district with a wind speed of 180 kms per hour. This first cyclone, which lasted 6 hours, . The area around Paradeep Port bore the full brunt of the storm. Twelve districts were affected, the worst being Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada. Unlike most cyclones, which pass within 8 hours, this cyclone continued for 34 hours wrecking havoc in 40% of Orissa. By November 30th the entire region, including the state capital, Bhubaneswar, was cut off from the rest of the world. The destruction can be imagined from the fact that even the state capital, which was 150 kms away from the centre of the storm, was not able to restore power to all parts of the city even 11 days after the calamity. Twenty-four lakh hectares were inundated with water……. both from the storm and tidal waves. And it was only a fortnight later, when the water began to recede, did the full impact of the holocaust begin to emerge……. displaying lakhs of animal carcasses and thousands of bloated human bodies. Death, disease and destruction were all around. Wild dogs attacked the carcasses; politicians and bureaucrats, the relief money and goods. While the Paradeep port authority, with access to the high-tech warning systems, took all precautions well in advance, the masses were left stranded to face the full fury of the cyclone.The super-cyclone had given enough indication of its savage fury long before it struck. For four days the cyclone circulation lay in the Bay of Bengal acquiring monstrous proportions. The Indian Meteorological Department (I.M.D.), which has a separate division for cyclone warning, had sent out a warning to Orissa and West Bengal on the super-cyclone, 4 days in advance. The Doordarshan, though it broadcast warnings, it was in such technical language, that