Coastal India flattened by path of the cyclone
Cyclone Phailin has flattened swathes of coastal India and left much underwater, but only seven deaths are reported after almost a million were evacuated by the Indian army.
Only seven deaths have been reported after an evacuation effort moved almost a million people away from India’s eastern coast.
Cyclone Phailin generated peak winds of 160mph in its eye when it hit the coast of eastern India last night but the formation disintegrated overnight, leaving slower winds of 80 or 90mph today. Today, the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa assessed the damage – as power lines and up to three million trees were flattened and large coastal areas lay under water.
Disaster response a success
The low number of deaths known so far – mainly caused by falling trees – is seen as a success for the Indian army’s disaster response team. A 1999 cyclone in the same area left 10,000 dead and 1.6million homeless. A large scale evacuation, the use of evacuation centres and organised food supply have worked well according to reports.
But hundreds of thousands face returning to the damage or destruction of their homes, with massive damage to property reported in Odisha and large amounts of flooding.
ActionAid said the cyclone had caused huge damage, with three million trees uprooted and hundreds of thousands of homes damaged.
Ghasiram Panda, programme manager for ActionAid India, said: “Our partners in the worst affected parts are trying to send in as much information but the communication is slow and patchy as telephone and electricity lines are down and their phones and laptops are running on low battery. Our assessment teams are also waiting for the weather and roads to clear up.
“We are yet to access the rural areas, so a clearer picture of the true extent of damage will emerge only in a day or two.
“But from the early reports we’ve received from our partners on the ground it appears that damage to crops, nets, boats, kuccha (non-cemented) houses and other small infrastructure appears extensive. Over three million trees have been uprooted, electricity and communication lines have been damaged.”
Livelihoods as well as lives
But the damage to livelihoods could have a heavy impact said Dr Tom Mitchell of development think tank the ODI. “This is about livelihoods as well as lives. Over the two decades many parts of India – including Andhra Pradesh – will be increasingly exposed to disasters.
“The focus on how deadly disasters can be should not obscure the fact that many homes, hospitals, shops and schools will have been badly impacted in ways which will drive people into poverty.”