13 long years passed by “The Super Cyclone”
K’pada village: Living testimony of Super Cyclone
Even as 13 long years passed by to the Super Cyclone, not much seems to have changed in the obscure Tentulikanda village under Benakandha gram panchayat in Mahakalapada block here. The village had suffered the worst in the horrific nature’s fury that had struck the Odisha coast on October 29 and 30 in 1999.
The cataclysmic aftereffects are still intact in the backward village, where poverty is writ large. Measures to rebuild the ravaged villages were on. But the changes that have taken place over the years are simply cosmetic and superficial. The cyclone had killed as many as 22 villagers from this nondescript hamlet located close to the sea coast. As tidal waves galloped towards the hamlet, everything was reduced to heaps of ruin in no time.
In the heart of the village, a temple continues to stand tall. But the cracks induced by the cyclonic winds on its wall are eminently visible. Ruined thatched houses greet visitors on the southern part of the village. Nobody knows where Subhash Mandal, an owner of such a house, has gone. Mandal had lost all his family members. A month after the disaster, he left the village leaving behind the devastated house. The heaps seem to be awaiting Mandal’s homecoming.
People here are largely cynical of what the Government agencies have done to reconstruct the village.
“We are yet to get basic amenities. Safe drinking water is still a mirage for us. We are forced to draw water from contaminated ponds. Many fall sick at regular intervals and there are no hospitals in nearby localities,” rued the inhabitants.
Several deceased family members of the cyclone do not figure in the BPL list despite their impoverished living.
“We depend on marine fishing and agriculture. But our livelihood stakes are in peril.
The ban on marine fishing has squeezed our income. Regular ingress of tidal waters into agriculture fields adversely affects our agriculture fields,” lamented a few villagers.
Courtesy : The Pioneer
The above News & article hasbeen taken just to share the News with the People .
|| Years Passed but the terrific memory can never be erased ||
Diptimaan Says :
29th October 1999, the day all odias cant forget ever,the day of supercyclone.Every people of coastal Odisha felt the blunder
of this. From Undivided Baleswar to Undivided Ganjam the devastive figure of nature destroyed everything. Till now we are finding the cause of that, whether it was nature’s bane or it was a result of human mistake.
My Personal experience,in 1999, I was of just 10 years old and I was reading in 5th Class in a private Odia Medium School.I was living in the state capital Bhubaneswar in Brit Colony Nayapally. 3 days before of 29th, in news(only doordarshan) and in all newspapers it was warned that cyclone will take place in 2 to 3 days.In 28th, rain storming started from the morning. People were running to shops for vegetables and all other food ingrdients with candles so that they could manage in that deadly hours.Our school was also declared that 28th as a rainy day, so we didnt go to the school.Till 11 a.m. there supply of electricity. From 11 a.m. of that day to 15days after the 29th we lived in home without electricity.In 28th there were only raining, but in 29th the actual show began. Winds started playing F1 race from the morning.Those winds constantly hit to our wall of the house. It felt like house is vibrating as our rented house was ill constructed. All doors at outer side of the house are closed and as well as windows. Suddenly we heard and great mettallic sound from the roof.Our neighbour came to our house and asked about that sound.He and my father went to the roof and saw that it was the TV antenna that fall down. There was 3 big coconut trees 50 metres far behind our house started bending from the morning. I was keep looking at those trees in regular interval from our window. In 30th morning when I saw, all three trees had already fall down in 29th night.In 29th there was a house with a nice terrace in front of us. That terreace was filled up with water and that water was falling to ground. It seems like artifical waterfall.The whole day I was eager to see outside what is happenning. But as I was a kid, my father was denying me to open the window and every time I open the window he was with me. All the day we were with candles and lanten. It was the nightmare during the daytime.Our school was also badly affected. The adjbestus roof of our school was blown off. We didn’t go to school till they didnt inform us when to come.Wherever I was going,I was seeing broken trees, cut electric wires, blown roof of Chawls. Some pet animals especially cows,bullocks got died, perhaps they couldnt find the shelter. The building of RBI,ISCKON temple, Kalinga Stadium that I couldn’t see from my roof before 29th, could able to see after that. Deepabali which fell some days later of 29th couldnt be celebrated in the memory of those who lost their lives in cyclone.
My experience is nothing infront of those people, who lost their house,nears and dears, wealths etc. But it was one of those common incident which, the people of coastal Odisha will never forget.After Supercyclone 1999 Odisha faced Drought in western region and Floods in both western as well as coastal region. Some people said 1999 was the sign of thuthfullness of “Malikaa” that was written by our ancients. Sometime, don’t know when, world will come to an end, but before this nature will show you some trailers if human will continue to destroy nature.
