Touched by Bay Of Bengal on its Eastern frontier, Odisha, my state back home in India is prone to Cyclones (counterpart of Hurricanes in North America) which come churning their way through Indian Ocean before making landfall anywhere on the vast Eastern Coromondel Coast.
It took my memory back to this day in the month of October, 1999 exactly 24 years ago when arguably the worst cyclone of my lifetime to hit Odisha in the form of Category 5 winds close to 150 miles per hour knocking out trees, houses, killing humans and livestocks in several thousands.
Caught pants down, the inept and corrupt administration in Odisha was unprepared for such an eventuality. It was completely caught by surprise, like a fox in front of searchlight - completely stunned, stoned and clueless. By the time the hapless authority could recover and gather strength and resources to launch some semblance of relief and rescue operation, the damage was already done in terms of life, property and reputation.
On that day in America, I was travelling on a new Consulting assignment to the state of Arkansas and just arrived at my hotel when my sister called and blasted me in one breath conveying the bad news from home. I rang up my father in Bhubaneswar expecting my call not to go through. It was a pleasant surprised to hear his voice at the other end, as our home phone was back working less than 24 hours after the storm. I was glad my folks were safe and sound, sans couple of fallen Papaya trees in our backyard and lot of coconut branches on ground.
There was no smartphone or Wifi those days. Face and book were two separate words - juxtaposing them into one entity was strictly fantasy. My hotel lobby had a few computers where I promptly logged into internet via now defunct AOL (America Online). There was a handful of Odia websites those days, but they were yet to carry any news of damage. Probably they were not in a position to carry news due to the power outage. Only a few web editions of national newspapers provided some glimpse of the horrendous loss of life and property.
The picture got clearer after couple of days, as the weather cleared up. National media carried clear pictures of bloated corpses of humans and livestock floating in swamps created by retreating sea water, flies swarming around. Stuck in the debris, there were no dogs, only jackals, crows or vultures left to feed on them. The sight was gross and ghastly, still etched in my memory.
It was rumored that Giridhari Gomango, the Chief Minister of Odisha (equivalent of a Governor in US) at that time ignored the warning about Cyclone based on the advice of his personal Astrologers who sooth-sayed him with confidence not to worry, as the the Cyclone would skip his state. But the Super Cyclone hit the heart of Odisha with full force. Gomango took the brunt of widespread criticism on the aftermath of devastation and was subseqently forced out of his job.
The powerful and disgruntled Congress leader JB Patnaik, the man Gomango replaced not long ago supposedly played some deliberate politics to accentuate the later's removal. Previously in power for 14 years he activated his widespread contacts and sleeper cells inside the all powerful Bureaucracy calling shots in Odisha to indulge in tardy distribution of relief materials, causing further damage to the reputation of CM Gomango who was unceremoniously removed.
Since then things have changed a lot over the last two decades. Lessons were learnt from the mistake of 1999. The subsequent administrations have been doing a commendable job in disaster management. In meantime technology has grown leaps and bound. Modern day satellites are able to predict the path of Cyclones days ahead of landfall with accuracy. Time being the essence, prior anticipation and tracking of this behemoth single eyed monster has led to evacuation of public en masse, drastically reducing the casualty. This time prior to Fani hitting the Odisha shore, a million have been evacuated to Cyclone shelters. Though damages to property was extensive but valuable human lives were saved.
What hasn't changed is the corruption in the post cyclone relief distribution which may have gone from bad to worse. As my friend, young man Pravat Pruseth questioned - ୧୯୯୯ ମହାବାତ୍ୟାରେ ଆମେରିକା ସରକାର ପଠେଇ ଥିବା ପାଞ୍ଚ ହଜାର ଟଙ୍କା ମୂଲ୍ଯର ଗୋଟିଏ ଗୋଟିଏ କମ୍ବଳ ଫାଇଭ ଷ୍ଟାର ହୋଟେଲ ଗୁଡିକରେ ପହଞ୍ଚିଲା କେମିତି ? (How come the blankets sent by the US government during super Cyclone 1999 manage to reach the 5 Star Hotels) ?
There were talks of some of the high quality tarpolenes donated from America to act as shelter cover ended up covering the cars of the BADA BADIA (Big Shots) in Bhubaneswar. The relief somehow manages to reach the greedy, not the needy. Good luck to my folks in Odisha. Take care and Stay safe from Cyclone season 🌀 this season.
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