Cyclonic storm Dana which emerged from the Bay of Bengal has now gained momentum. Odisha has been receiving heavy rains with strong winds since Thursday morning. According to the meteorological department, Cyclone Dana is moving north-northwest at a speed of 12 kilometers per hour.
The Meteorological Department said Storm Dana will hit Bitarkanika National Park and near Dhamra Port on Thursday to Friday night. Both these places are adjacent to Puri. During this period, winds of up to 120 kilometers per hour are possible.
Cyclone Dana is likely to cross the coast of north Odisha and West Bengal on Friday morning. The maximum impact of this storm will be in Odisha. More than 1 million people had to evacuate before the storm. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi said 30% of one million people had been evacuated as of Wednesday morning.
The railroad canceled more than 200 trains because of the storm. The NDRF has deployed 56 teams in Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Of these, 21 teams are in Odisha and 17 in West Bengal.
In fact, when storms hit, their effects are most felt in coastal countries. But Odisha faces storms every year. This is where any storm will have the greatest impact. A report by the Odisha government stated that more than 260 storms have occurred here in 100 years.
But why only Odisha?
Storms occur when ocean surface water warms. The water is heated and expands and collides with the cold air above. India is bounded by the Arabian Sea on one side and the Bay of Bengal on the other. Storms that form in the Bay of Bengal are very different from those that form in the Arabian Sea.
Most storms form only in the Bay of Bengal. That’s because the Bay of Bengal is warmer than the Arabian Sea. There is a possibility of two major cyclonic storms occurring in the Bay of Bengal within a year. These usually occur between March to May and October to December.
At the same time, Odisha’s geography is a magnet for storms. Whenever a storm forms in the Bay of Bengal, it moves northwestward.
Odisha is located where the Indian coastline curves, so its coast is the worst affected by storms.
How does Odisha handle itself?
Storms occur every year in Odisha. But in 1999, a storm came and changed everything. It is also known as a “super cyclone”.
Government reports showed that 9,885 people died in the storm in Odisha. 450,000 animals also died. Not only that, more than 17,000 schools and 12,000 kilometers of roads were also destroyed.
Learning from the lessons of this storm, the Odisha government has set a target of “zero casualties”. First, the government established the Orissa State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA). This is the first state in the country to set up a disaster management authority. While at the central level, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was established in 2005.
The Odisha government not only makes people aware of natural disasters but also provides training to deal with them.
What was the result?
It was the Odisha government’s years of hard work and preparation that brought the death toll from the storm to double digits.
In 2013, a storm named “Filin” hit Odisha. This storm is also like the one in 1999. The storm hit Odisha with wind speeds exceeding 250 kilometers per hour. But the government is prepared and has evacuated 1.1 million people from affected areas. As a result, only 44 people died from that storm. Twenty-three of those people died as a result of flooding that occurred after the storm. The Odisha government also received commendation from the United Nations.
In 2014, Storm Hudhud struck, killing two people. When Hurricane Fanny hit in 2019, the government evacuated more than 1.2 million people from the affected areas.
How did this happen?
Learning from the lessons of the 1999 hurricane, the government went to the grassroots level to train personnel. Even women in villages are trained to deal with storms and natural disasters. Even now, simulation exercises are conducted twice a year in June and November.
But training staff alone can’t handle a storm. The government has also prepared infrastructure for this purpose.
A report released by the World Bank last year stated that the government has prepared a road network along the entire coast of Odisha for safe evacuation of people from affected areas. At the same time, more than 800 shelters were built.
Dams were built in coastal villages to prevent sea water from entering. The people in the village’s mud houses have prepared their houses. Not only that, early warning systems have been installed in 1,200 villages in coastal areas to issue warnings in the event of floods, storms or disasters. Monitoring towers have also been installed in more than 120 coastal areas.
