"Phailin"

“Phailin” tops India’s cyclone list / “Phailin” puts Odisha into peril / “Phailin”- the root cause of emitting greenhouse gases / Competition between “Phailin” and “Katrina” / Meteorologists predict “Phailin” at the right time / “Phailin” alarms government officials of Coastal Andhra and Odisha / “Phailin” is not a cyclone it’s a Super cyclone.

Indian Meteorological Department predicts “Phailin” to be a super cyclone, hitting the coastlines of Andhra region and Odisha.

·      IMD predicts “Phailin” on Saturday.

·      Cyclone to hit, the coastlines of Vishakapatnam, srikakulam and adjacent places.

·      Evacuations were made before the super cyclone, gained its momentum.

·      “Katrina” faced an equal competition this time.

·      Google’s Crisis response team became active this time.

·      Fishermen lost their valuable source of living.

Aparajitha Bukkapatanam

Srikakulam, October 21^st: The 1999 Orissa cyclone was a major threat for many people washing away nearly ten thousand people and their respective property. But the recent cyclone in Odisha, has escaped the number of casualties this time. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) estimated that the cyclone would become active on Saturday (October 12), which would likely hit the coast between Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Paradip in Orissa with a wind speed of 220 Kmph, due to low pressure depression. Phailin, being a Category 5 cyclone, has been recorded to be the strongest cyclone, ever measured in the Indian Ocean.

As per their predictions, the cyclone gained its momentum, washing away acres of land, damaging several electrical poles, houses and other public property. The government authorities, being vigilant made several food arrangements for the people and evacuated them before the cyclone took its real turn on Saturday. Several arrangements were made to locate the people, which also included the help of Google, which launched a “Crisis Response Team” to help the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha government officials to help the cyclone victims, to rescue and rehabilitate them to other places. The minister for Information Technology and Communications, Ponnala Lakshmaiah expressed his gratitude to the special team, Google had started, by saying- “Google has come forward to offer their help. We are coordinating with them. It will help us collect information concerning the victims of the cyclone and track their status”.

The Greenpeace organization told that such dangerous cyclones are more evident in the coming future due to extreme emission of Greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere. Biswajit Mohanty, a member of the Greenpeace India, said- “Since governments have refused to deal with climate change and instead allow the pumping of ever more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, global temperatures will continue to increase.”

Due to these immense atmospheric changes, Phailin has become a major concern for meteorologists, fearing a strong competition with “Katrina”, a hurricane which, devastated many parts of the United States in 2005. “Phailin is already worse than what the IMD is forecasting. A recent satellite estimate put Phailin's current intensity on par with 2005's Hurricane Katrina in the United States". Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist for a US based online magazine, Quartz, uttered these words.

The cyclone slowly dissipated on Sunday, leaving a death toll of 23 people, which stood in contrast to the previous super cyclone, killing nearly 10,000 people, over the eastern coastline. The Indian Meteorological Department stood vindicated on Sunday morning, over its predictions of cyclone Phailin. LS Rathore, Director General of the IMD said- “They have been issuing over-warnings, we have been contradicting them.”

The predictions made by the IMD and the US officials were proved correct, but loss of habitat, became another major concern. Many people lost their land and property bringing them to roads. The government officials informed that certain remedies would be prepared, for their daily existence, but could not make up to that point. Many people in the Ganjam district, Gopalpur and Berhampur lost their houses and acres of crop, which was their major source of income. “In Ganjam district alone, around 2.4 lakh houses were partially or fully damaged,” said Ganjam collector Krishan Kumar. Electricity poles were fixed improperly, leaving some places incomplete. Several fishermen in Vishakapatnam and Srikakulam lost their trade, becoming helpless. A recent look into the news headlines of various broadcasting news channels, showed a greater irresponsibility of government officials, who didn’t cover up the final arrangements.

The only hope, which everyone can conclude upon is, that there was a silver lining, which saved many people from the strongest cyclone and momentarily restored people’s belief among the officials.

(eom)