Damage and Impact of Cyclone Yaas

Coinciding with the perigean spring tide, an especially high tide caused by the sun and moon being slightly closer to Earth than usual, the storm surge in the sea and rivers triggered by Yaas caused widespread damage to thatched houses, standing crops, and trees in the rural belt of Bhadrak, Balasore, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Mayurbhanj, and Keonjhar districts.

Electrical lines were knocked out and caused thousands of power outages. The Indian Meteorological Department reported the sustainable winds to be raging at 70-80 km/hr (40-50 mph) with gusts up to 90km/hr which left behind a trail of destruction along the eastern coast of the subcontinent.

A civilian lost their life after being dragged out to the sea and another got buried under their collapsed home.

In Pandua, two farmers were struck by lightning while uprooted trees claimed two lives in Keonjhar and Balasore respectively. Torrential rains left four districts – Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, and Kendrapara – vulnerable to the gale.

They caused widespread damage in the northern district of Mayurbhanj and red warnings were issued because of extreme rainfall. A yellow warning for heavy to very heavy rainfall was issued in four western districts to alert district collectors in fear of flash floods.

In Odisha, landfall destroyed thousands of mud homes and continued to be affected by high-speed winds until the next Thursday morning when the cyclone dissipated into a deep depression hitting Jharkhand.

Four thousand and five hundred villages took damage as basic amenities such as drinking water and sanitation became scarce due to 53 out of 54 freshwater ponds being filled with seawater.

A minimum of 143 marine vehicles was broken into. As per an attempt, a naval source at Patenga in Chittagong, a ship named M.V. Sanvalli sank near Bhasanchar in the Bay of Bengal, and 12 sailors were rescued by the Bangladesh Air Force helicopters. The fleeting remnants of the tempestuous Yaas caused light rainfall in some areas of Nepal.

A few hikers and rock climbers got stranded in the high summits at Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse while a lot more were forced to retreat due to imminent weather from interaction with the remnants and prevailing western disturbances. 

Relief and Rehabilitation

In a time of sheer chaos flung upon humans by Mother Nature in the form of a raging pandemic out to get as many lives as possible accompanied by its fellow warriors of destruction going by the names of Cyclones, Hurricanes, Landslides, etc—the state government held its guard when it comes protecting its people.

For the first time, voice messages were used to reach out to people in local languages and alert them about the cyclone Yaas threat — informed Anshu Prakash, telecom secretary— as the impact of the cyclone on telecom infrastructure and the networks were minimal.

The ad, advanced planning was the shield they pulled by already deploying 66 units of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF),52 units of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and 180 units of fire personnel to take care of the exigencies.

The five most vulnerable districts – Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, and Mayurbhanj – were assigned high-level IAS and IPS, officers. Vishal Dev, senior IAS officer, and Sports Secretary, along with Diptesh Pattanayak, IPS officer and Inspector General of eastern police range, were deployed at Balasore to oversee the operation.

Bhadrak was under observation by V.V. Yadav, IAS officer and Food Supplies secretary, and Amitendra Nath Sinha, IPS officer and Inspector General of crime police branch. Hemant Sharma, IAS officer, and Industries Secretary, accompanied by J.N. Pankaj, IPS officer, and Deputy Inspector General, were given the Kendrapada district. Saswat Mishra, IAS officer, and Higher Education Secretary, alongside Amitabh Thakur, IPS officer and Inspector General of operations were assigned to the district of Jagatsinghpur by the State Government.

Mayurbhanj had been deployed to Kumar Vashishth, IAS officer and Agriculture Secretary, paired with Anirudh Kumar Singh, IPS officer and Deputy Inspector General of Special Intelligence Wing. Eight senior officers of Housing and Urban Development were positioned in Balasore and Bhadrak to assist concerned authorities in civic management. Additional doctors were sent beforehand to ensure smooth management in the treatment of the victims of the hazard about the COVID-19 protocols.

Almost 1,200 rescue shelters were sanitized according to protective Covid reforms and health teams were dispatched. 700 people were rescued by the Indian Army who was marooned at different places in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district. State Bank of India’s general insurance used drones to carry out surveys and assess the damage caused by Yaas in a bid to speed up the claim settlement process for its customers affected by the natural disaster.

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, met up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for assessing the damage caused after a personal review by an aerial survey of the 24 north Parganas districts that were impacted. Prime Minister announced an immediate relief fund of Rupees 1,000 crore to be split among Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.

Odisha being a coastal region prone to calamities demanded a long-term solution from the Prime Minister but was rejected the plea. As relocated victims at shelter homes, though flooded, contained limited WASH supplies.

The restoration process too began in earnest as roads were cleaned, uprooted trees were removed and power was restored. Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, announces 7 days of relief for all families of 128 marooned villages that were affected by the cyclone.

Centre Government assured all facilities of infrastructure restoration and rebuilding in the affected areas. Rupees 2 lakh ex-gratia was promised to the next of kin of the deceased and Rupees 50,000 were given to all the injured victims. The Prime Minister emphasized the continuation of scientific management toward disasters and its means of control. As the former consistency of such hazards has marked a rise in recent times, community notifications, mitigation efforts, and preparedness of the state government tumultuous change.

Disaster mitigation has been prioritized by the Finance Commission as well, by provisioning mitigation funds to the extent of Rupees 30,000 crore.

Numerous NGOs and fundraising sites got together to collect money and day-to-day amenities to be distributed among the sheltered victims.

May 28, 2021

AID delivered food, clothes, and other essential commodities worth Rupees 29, 68, 900 ($40k) as initial relief to the affected communities in Namkhana, Kultali, Patharpratima, and Mathurapur II blocks.

June 03, 2021

AID launched an online fundraising platform for the Sundarbans to promote long-term remediation and rebuilding of climate resilience in the region. They also sent Rupees 7, 42, 225 ($10k) for communities of the Kumirmari island where 3,000 of 4,200 families are distressed because 12,000 acres of the 18,000-acre land is under saline water.

June 08, 2021

• Orgawhich a large-scale “Food for Work” campaign with the help of AID to rebuild embankments affected by Yaas –before which, the pleas of reconstruction were denied by the Prime Minister. Mukti distributed 2000 liters of clean water twice a day and put in massive efforts of siphoning saline water from freshwater ponds and re-watering them with fresh water.

• Chetana Sangha, along with thirty woman group leaders from three villages distributed food to 200 families, pollution control material to 120 families, pond irrigation support to 58 families, and cooking gas supplies to 30 families in Kuemuri. She distributed 56,000 liters of drinkable water among 400 families, each receiving 20 liters every day.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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