AMPHAN: DISASTER, DESTRUCTION AND DESPAIR

Background on the super cyclone: Super cyclonic storm Amphan is a tropical cyclone that has caused widespread damage to the Indian states of Odhisha and the southern part of West Bengal as well as to the neighboring nation Bangladesh. It is the first cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal in the 21st century.

Amphan-Disaster, destruction and despair-NewsORB360

AMPHAN The super cyclone Amphan has taken a toll of 82 lives up till now according to the official report. Although the foresighted efforts of the administration to evacuate millions of people to shelters have prevented widespread casualties of lives yet the whole scale of destruction in terms of infrastructure and lives can not be properly assessed until normalcy is restored.

Mamta Banerjee, Chief Minister, West Bengal in a briefing on Amphan and destruction it has caused to the state announced a compensation of R 2.5 lakh to the families of those who have lost their lives in the AMPHAN aftermath of the cyclone. She also claimed that the damages in the region monetarily could be to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore. The chief minister further described the current situation in the regions hit by the cyclone to be worse than the damages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Amphan-Disaster, destruction and despair-NewsORB360

PMO India has informed that the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will take an aerial survey of the areas affected by the AMPHAN cyclone, with the PM surveying the state of West Bengal on the morning of 22nd may while he will undertake the view of coastal state Odhisha later in the afternoon.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had advised people against going out until the government’s green signal.

Amphan-Disaster, destruction and despair-NewsORB360

The Hindu in their report on the super cyclone Amphan provided with eyewitness accounts of Dhrupadi Ghosh, a sociology researcher at Jamia Milia University, DU who lives in Bhawanipur in South Kolkata who explained AMPHAN the terror he felt stating “ It turned suddenly dark and a strong gust of wind broke the glasses of three windows. Both happened almost simultaneously. Water rushed in and in trying to stop that, I fell and hurt myself. It was a dark night.”

The images of the devastation by the super cyclone left the netizens in despair and heartbroken as prayers poured in AMPHAN from around the globe for the safety of those affected the cyclone.

Amphan-Disaster, destruction and despair-NewsORB360

Opinion: Although the cyclone has stuck the states at a time when they were already battling the Covid-19 pandemic, it is an opportunity for the Central and State government to enshrine upon its idea of co-operative federalism and take up a united front against this battle. The states should also ensure that necessary steps are undertaken to minimize the effect of such disasters in the future. Economic models should also be evolved for regions frequently AMPHAN stuck with such cyclones particularly Eastern states of India. Although most of the readers may not be affected directly and stranded in the regions stuck by this cyclone yet the cyclone has an indirect role in the lives of each one of us. The Central Government stands at crossroads as it battles the pandemic, yet the storm is another event that demands their immediate action. In the forthcoming days, we could see a diversion of funds by the central government to these states for rebuilding their infrastructure AMPHAN which could otherwise be used for fighting the pandemic, further intensifying the battle as India crosses 1 lakh confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Leave a Reply

Related Posts