Timely action blunts cyclone Phailin impact
Effective planning, co-ordination and implementation among various agencies ensured that the loss of lives was limited after a severe cyclone ravaged large coastal parts of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh late Saturday night. less than two dozen people died, although damage to property and farmlands will run into tens of crores of rupees. While even one life lost is painful, worse could have happened. We need to only revisit the incidents of natural disaster that struck Uttarakhand some months ago and the storm that caused havoc in Odisha in 1999. In both cases, the disaster management regime failed to rise to the occasion, and there was a glaring lack of co-ordination among the various agencies concerned. As a result, more than 10,000 people died in Odisha (the cyclone was as severe if not more than the Saturday one) and close to 5,000 in Uttarakhand. Precious lives could have been saved had only the various Government agencies seen the disaster coming and taken prompt steps to evacuate people from the danger zones. But it must be said that both Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have taken sensible steps over the years to manage natural calamities. The National Disaster Response Force has been working for some time now in the two States to put in place a plan of action and create awareness among the people on the need to be on their toes. The Indian Meteorological Department, for once, performed creditably, forecasting correctly and on time. It had faced flak over apparently failing to foresee the Uttarakhand disaster — although the IMD had put up a stiff defence, saying that while it had done its job, the local authorities had failed to act. Since many lives can be saved through pre-emptive action, the Government of Odisha evacuated more than eight lakh people from the danger areas and shifted them to relief camps before Phailin arrived. The Armed Forces were at hand for relief and rescue operations. Complementing their efforts was the widespread media publicity which ensured that people did not panic for want of credible information. It is to be hoped that the success in facing Phailin will drive the NDRF and other agencies to continue their good work elsewhere in the country. Meanwhile, although the cyclone has gone away from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the States and various Government and non-Government agencies have a lot of work to do in terms of rehabilitation of the affected. It’s a challenge that is nearly as enormous as tackling the cyclone.
However, the celebration over countering Phailin has been marred by the tragedy that hit unsuspecting devotees who had gathered for Navratri festivities at a temple in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district on Sunday. More than 100 people have lost their lives in a stampede on a bridge that led to Ratangarh temple. Reports say that the chaos happened after rumours of the bridge collapsing spread like wild fire. Some reports claim that the police resorted to a lathi-charge to keep the crowd in check, and that worsened the situation. An inquiry will reveal the details, but the message from the grim incident is that authorities must hone their crowd management skills. This is also true of religious spots in other parts of the country, which have, unfortunately, witnessed similar tragedies.