INFOKARA RESEARCH ISSN NO: 1021-9056

Rabid Assessment: Impact of Thane Cyclone colossal destruction in

P. GIRIJA Ph.D Scholar of History, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli- 620 024. Tamil Nadu, India.

Dr.T.ASOKAN Assistant professor, Department of History Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli-24.

Abstract: In this article, attempt to understand the impact of Thane cyclone in 2011 and its damage on agriculture, infrastructure such as shelter, sanitation, drinking water, electricity supplies and transportation services. The district was frequently exposing several cyclones including Jal cyclone (2010), Nisha cyclone (2008), Fanoos (2005), also. This study area is frequently exposed by the various kinds of disasters such as Tsunami, cyclone and flood. This article is explains why cyclones are frequently occured in the eastern coastal sites. Keywords: cyclone, massive, damage, crops, cashew, disaster and coastal.

1. Introduction Cyclone is a huge strong wind system which blows around the centre of intense low pressure area. It was called as the local name of the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, but in the Northwest Pacific Ocean they are known as typhoons, and in the Northeast Pacific Ocean and North Atlantic, they are known as hurricanes. Cyclone Thane has the National Disaster in 2011 announced by Indian Meteorological Department. In the past 50 years, the district has never witnessed a strongest cyclone Thane. In Cuddalore vulnerable to cyclones associated with floods particularly in the Post monsoon season of November to December. Further, present study witnessed many cyclone and floods occurred in the district of last 15 years. The consequences of the disaster occurred for the main reason is Ocean temperature varied than Arabian Sea. These events are leads to direct impacts in Storm surges, flood, high winds, inundation, and erosion etc. And also indirect impacts are including the loss of life, causalities, and damages to the properties causing socio economic loss.

2. Study area Cuddalore District is situated in the South Indian State of Tamil Nadu between 11˚ 45’ and 12˚ 27’ of Northern latitude and 78˚ 48’ and 80˚ 12’ of East longitude and covering an area of 3,698,68 sq.km. The district is bounded by Pondicherry and Villupuram on the North, Nagapattinam and Ariyalur on the South, Bay of Bengal on the East and Perambalur District on the West. It has been classified as a multi-hazard prone district. Cuddalore is about 68 km has a

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long coastline, therefore the district is vulnerable to the cyclones and the resultant rains which causing floods. 3. Data Methodology This article deals with Thane cyclone, origin and it impacts in the surrounding areas. Cyclone data is collected by the Regional Meteorological Department (RMD). And also the following data have used. 3.1 Track of Thane cyclone observation Map This map is used for the tracks of cyclone developmental stages, that hit the Cuddalore and other surrounding area in the past along with their landfall points mentioned.

4. Developmental Stage Thane cyclone was the national disaster of 2011, initially developed as a low pressure within the monsoon trough to the west of Indonesia. Over the next couple of days the pressure gradually developed further while moving towards the northwest, and was declared a Depression during December 25, before being declared Cyclonic Storm Thane. As it was named, Thane started to turn towards the west under the influence of a subtropical ridge of high pressure before its development slowed down during December 27, as a strong outflow and marginally favorable sea surface temperatures fought with persistent vertical wind shear. After its development had slowed down during December 27, Thane became a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm during December 28, before as it approached the Indian States of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, it weakened slightly. Then, Thane made landfall on December 30, on the north Tamil Nadu coast between Cuddalore and Pondicherry and rapidly weakened into a depression. Cuddalore and Villupuram Districts in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry were the worst affected due to Cyclone Thane. Cyclone Thane, which means 'Eagle' in Myanmar hit landfall in Tamil Nadu at 9am on the 30th of December. The very severe cyclonic storm THANE over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-southwestward and lay centered at 0530 hrs IST, the 29th December 2011 near latitude 12.30N and longitude 83.00E Cyclone Thane took about three hours to cross coastal Tamil Nadu near Cuddalore and Puducherry: Villagers in the danger zone evacuated to cyclone shelters

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Track of Very Severe Cyclonic Storm, ‘Thane’ over the Bay of Bengal

5. Impact of Thane

In Tamil Nadu, the coastal districts of Cuddalore, Villupuram, , and Union Territory of Pondicherry were severely affected. Deaths in Cuddalore occurred mainly due to electrocution, falling of trees and collapse of house or walls. A large number of cows, goats and buffaloes were killed in many villages. Trees, lamp posts and electric poles were uprooted, hand-pumps and bore wells have been damaged that lead to water scarcity and lack of safe drinking water. Major roads were blocked in almost all areas of Cuddalore district for a whole week. After the tsunami disaster, a large number of self help groups of women were actively involved in relief and rehabilitation process. They were also active after Nisha Cyclone in 2006. Subsequently these groups have undergone several training programmes on disaster risk reduction offered by SSP and Groots International. These trained women’s groups came together and formed a Federation to work and offer their knowledge on disaster preparedness and risk reduction on a sustained basis. There are two such Women’s Federations; one in Cuddalore and another at Nagapattinam. t least 33 people were killed as cyclone Thane, with a wind speed of 140 kmph, hit the Tamil Nadu coast near Cuddalore on Friday morning, leaving a trail of death and destruction in the state and Puducherry, officials said. The cyclone did not have much impact on Andhra Pradesh coastline.

Thousands of people reached relief camps in Cuddalore as the strong wind blew off the thatched roofs of houses. The wind also uprooted hundreds of trees, electric poles, traffic signal

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poles and mobile phone towers in coastal districts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. A Korean cargo ship OSM Arena anchored out in the sea started drifting towards Chennai shore due to the strong current and wind. The ship is now standing at a safe distance and steps to tow the vessel to safer waters will be taken Saturday. In Chennai, people in low-lying areas were shifted to relief centres and food packets were distributed. Police banned public from venturing out onto the Marina beach as sea waters entered inland, around 500 metres from the shoreline. Boats and nets of fishermen were sucked into the sea due to high tides. Chennai, Nagapattinam and Cuddalore witnessed heavy wind and rain. The sea was rough and inundated some residential areas along the East Coast Road connecting Chennai and Puducherry. Southern Railways rescheduled two trains, cancelled five and diverted five that reach or leave Chennai. The Met Office has also withdrawn the cyclone warning at the ports and for the fishermen along the coast. Chittoor, Tirupati and other towns in Chittoor district received heavy rains. The roads leading to the famous town at Tirumala were deserted. It has been dominated by reports of a major cyclone Thane that lay centered on the 29th December 2011 near latitude 12.30N and longitude 83.00E, about 300 km east-southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and 480 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka). Earlier reports related to the cyclone Thane indicate predictions and cyclone warnings made by the IMD for the north of Tamil Nadu and the south Andhra Pradesh coast along with possibility of heavy rains and severe winds and warnings for fishermen to refrain from going into the sea. Later reports indicate that Cyclone Thane has hit the landfall between the Union territory of Puducherry and neighbouring Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu at about 9 am leaving behind a trail of devastation followed by later reports of weakening of the cyclone activity and predictions of heavy rainfall over Kerala, south interior Karnataka and north interior Tamil Nadu

Sl.No Impact of Thane Cyclone -2011 1. Loss of Life Loss of Human 41 Loss of Cattle 343 Loss of Poultry 59423 2. Huts Damage Fully affected 1, 49,536 Partly affected 3, 7,1825 3. Damages to Infrastructure Electricity damage 69, 470 Street Lights 64, 170 4. Damage to Roads

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State, Municipal and 1587 km Panchayat Roads Source: National Disaster Management Authority.

According to Disaster Report of 2011, estimates 40 people were the loss of livelihoods. , the Cyclone left huge destruction in terms of livelihood, particularly agricultural livelihood and ripped apart the green cover in these already arid districts. This is apart from loss of industrial livelihood. Further around 750,000 thatched, tiled and asbestoed habitation have been affected over 650 villages. 45,000 electric posts were uprooted creating an electricity and resultant water crisis. In terms of relief apart from the immediate relief the Government of Tamil Nadu has offered INR 5000 (USD 101) per completely destroyed house, INR 2500 (USD 50.5). Loss of life compensation has been estimated at INR 200,000 (USD 4055). For farming losses apart from free seed kit, an amount of INR 8000 (USD 162) has been announced per acre of plantation as one year support. In Pondicherry, the damage includes around 17,012 hectares of paddy fields and also coconuts, bananas, casuarinas and sugarcane besides 80,000 huts and 124 power transformers. 75% of the total green cover of Pondicherry has destroyed. The long term relief scheme announced by the Government of Pondicherry seems marginally better than that announced by the Government of Tamil Nadu ranging from INR 10000 (USD 202) to 15000 (USD 304) for damaged houses and and INR 15000 to 50000 (USD 1013) per hectare of destroyed crops depending on the type of crop. Credit must be given to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) which worked on a war footing and restored power in most parts of the affected districts within couple of weeks, while most parts of Pondicherry apart from the urban areas were reeling under acute electricity and water supply even two and a half weeks after the Cyclone when the NDW social assessment team visited. In terms of the intensity of damage in the affected areas, many involved in relief work believe that Cyclone Thane has surpassed the 2004 Tsunami.

Electricity for many of the affected villages had not been restored even after 15 days of the cyclone, which resulted in acute shortage of drinking water and other basic amenities. The districts affected by the recent floods and the extent of damages district-wise were as depicted in the table below: Cuddalore bore the brunt of the cyclonic fury accounting for 21 deaths with damaged roads rendering it difficult for rescue teams to reach the cyclone hit villages. The Cyclone disrupted the

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road and rail operations with services cancelled or rescheduled. The Cyclone had destroyed more than 75,000 thatched huts in Cuddalore alone Puducherry was cut off from neighbouring districts in Tamil Nadu with the uprooted trees blocking road traffic. More than ten people have lost their lives. The electricity was totally cut off and there was shortage of drinking water in the cyclone affected villages. More than 10,000 huts were destroyed and the roofs were blown away by the fury of the wind. Two thousand five hundred

. The disaster potential of a TC is very high when it is making a landfall due to the strong winds along with heavy rainfall and tidal waves. Storm surges causes erosion as well as flooding. Considerable increase in frequency of the most intense cyclones increases the precipitation rate to 20% within 100 km of the storm center [20]. A cyclonic storm loses its intensity as it makes a landfall due to the lack of warm air supply from the ocean. Cyclone affected areas increased with the increase of return periods [10]. Previous studies shows that no certain long term pattern exists in the case of frequency or in the intensity of TCs [14]. However some studies already have proven that there is an increase in the intensity of cyclonic storm activities in the Bay of Bengal during past years compared to that of the Arabian Sea. The intensity of the tropical cyclones during the monsoon period has increased during the recent years.

The GIS-based storm surge models can be used in the case of risk modelling to obtain necessary information for different disaster phase including preparedness phase of a disaster management. Historical cyclone data and the population data are the crucial data for considering the cyclone risk assessment and it’s modelling [10

Most of the deaths during Thane Cyclone were due to house collapses. The cyclone accompanied by rains and gale that uprooted thousands of trees, knocking down electric poles, transformers, transmission towers, snapping power supply in several areas. National and State highways was completely blocked. Power supply severely affected. Water supply was affected mainly due to power failure and short supply. Thatched houses were completely damaged mainly in the most.

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Infrastructure and Communication systems:

Thane Cyclone had disrupted the total communication systems in the coastal districts of Cuddalore, and Pondicherry. Telephone lines and electricity poles were uprooted and there was no electricity for 11 days in the cyclone affected areas. In Cuddalore, the situation was very bad as the total electricity system was paralyzed for more than 30 days. The communication and the electricity systems disconnected the district from other parts of the state and delayed the response work. The electricity failure affected the water and sanitation facilities heavily. There was acute shortage of safe drinking water, Milk, and other needs. The Government, with the help of NGOs and other institutions, brought water from neighbouring districts. Agriculture

Agriculture is the major livelihood in the area. The cultivable land and crops were damaged massive in different level including long term cultivation practices are coconut, cashew and jackfruit trees heavily ruined. Panruti, Naduveerapattu, Kizhmampattu, Melmampattu, Palur, Thondamanatham, Kudikadu and Karaikadu are ravaged including the entire cashew nut trees and Jack fruit trees that were the backbone of the majority of the people’s livelihood. Thane cyclone mainly affected by the farmers and agricultural labourers. Major. Thane cyclone had uprooted the large number of trees and the future of those families who were involved in agricultural practices has now become a question mark. Apart from Coconut and Cashew – Paddy, Banana, Mango, Jackfruit and Sugarcane Plantations have been affected. It is estimated that Cuddalore District alone saw a staggering loss of approximately 1,000,000 coconut trees and more than 28,000 hectares of cashew plantations amongst other cash crops. It is estimated that 80 % of crops were uprooted by the Cyclone There is no estimate of the non agricultural vegetation affected by the Cyclone. More than 15,000 hectares of agricultural lands were destroyed with the standing crop. tanding paddy crops on around 25,000 acres of land in the Cauvery delta region is estimated to have been damaged due the high speed cyclonic wind.

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Damages to Agricultural Crops

Cashew Banana Jack Mang

Around 176,000 hectares of agricultural crops were destroyed. Further the entire tree cover of Cuddalore district was ravaged including the entire cashew nut trees and jack fruit trees that were the backbone of the majority of the people’s livelihood options.

Discussion Aftermath of cyclone, Scarcity of relief material the caste fault lines particularly with respect to access to relief. Part of the fault is located in not taking into consideration existing strong caste hegemonies in disaster preparedness and mitigation. Across the board in Cyclone Thane it appears that already vulnerable and marginalised communities were rendered more vulnerable as a result of the natural disaster. Both in Palur and Sathamangalam, this vulnerability has also resulted in overt violence. In the case of Palur, the violence seems to be also directly connected to resentment of political assertion by the Dalit communities. Further, in both the cases the Police have acted with impunity both in refusal to entertain complaints from the Dalit communities and in their response to the complaint. Even where the district and police administration have acknowledged the mistake on the part of the police officials on duty, no action has been contemplated or taken against the errant officials. Despite the gravity and tense nature of the situation the local media also seems to have ignored the violence though it had been brought to their notice. Equitable and just disaster mitigation is possible only if the policy and law acknowledges the role that caste plays in exacerbating the vulnerabilities of Dalit and marginalised communities in disaster situations. This acknowledgement has to find its way into the National Disaster Management Policy and framework. Given the gravity of situation that the assessment team witnessed in its limited travel, it is strongly recommended that an independent probe be conducted into caste violence during Cyclone Thane. Further, the responsible police officials have to be prosecuted under the PoA Act for failure to take cognisance of the caste violence. The governments of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry also need to make provisions for adequate compensation for the loss of livelihood, damage to property and injuries that were

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sustained as a result of the violence. A proper rehabilitation package also needs to be conceived especially given that most of the victims of the violence are daily wage earners dependant on the dominant caste for their livelihood.  Adequately given to the basic needs of victims i.e. cyclone shelter, cloth, food and sanitation facilities.  Reconstruction of houses for those families who have lost their houses

CONCLUSION

The historical cyclone hits that the Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar Islands are frequently prone to cyclones and depressions that are formed in the Bay of Bengal basin whereas Gujarat is the most vulnerable state for tropical cyclones originating in the Arabian Sea is clearly visible from the density of tracks plotted. The deadly cyclones like SCS and CS are mainly originated in the Bay of Bengal basin than in the Arabian Sea basin due to presence of warm air present in the area and are of four times that of originating in the Arabian Sea. The sudden deviation of the tropical cyclone path during its active period is also observed while plotting the tracks from the historical data only. Most of the cyclone hits are observed during the period of October, September, and November. The main cyclone season in the South Indian Ocean observed is May-July and September-December with significant occurrences of storms in April and August from the historical return period data. After the Dec. 2004 Tsunami that struck the coastal areas of Southern India, these areas witnessed yet another disaster on the 30th of Dec. 2011 which has once again disrupted the life of the people, causing a major jolt to their Shelter and Livelihood. As the people were preparing themselves to welcome the New Year 2012, the sudden depression in the Bay of Bengal developed into a strong cyclonic storm named as Thane. Cyclone Thane left a trail of destruction mainly in Cuddalore district and Puducherry and also impacted the neighbouring Villupuram and Nagapattinam Districts of Tamil Nadu. As this was a slow onset disaster, the human lives lost were very less. Further, thanks to the organizations that had worked on Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives, the vulnerable communities were able to respond with speed, without waiting for external help to save their lives. However, Thane Cyclone had battered the shelter and livelihood of the people very badly. More than 5 lakhs houses were destroyed and 4.5 lakhs trees were uprooted posing direct threat to the environment and livelihood. The affected communities required external support from the Government and NGOs to restart their lives.

Acknowledgment

First author likes to thank the Regional Meteorological Department, Chennai and Indian meteorological Department for making the historical cyclone data available for everyone. And also likes to express sincere gratitude towards Dr. C. Chitra Latha for their immense help throughout the article publication process.

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