International Journal of Engineering Sciences
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[Lohani et al. , 3(1): Jan-Mar., 2013] ISSN: 2277-5528 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & MANAGEMENT EFFECTS AND REMEDIAL MEASURES OF 1999 SUPERCYCLONE IN THE COASTAL DISTRICT OF ODISHA: A CASE STUDY OF PURI DISTRICT Tarun Kumar Lohani *1 & Santosh Kumar Samantara 2 *1 Department Civil Engineering, OEC, Bhubaneswar, India 2GOP College, Gop, Puri, Odisha, India ABSTRACT The 1999 Super Cyclone at Jagatsinghpur. Hundreds of schoolchildren participated in the rally which started from Gandhi Chowk to collect orate field. Later, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of district collector Mr Gyanranjan Dash, SP Mr S. Debdautta Singh sub-Collector Murlidhar Mallick ADM Sanjib Mishra and other senior officials of the district were present. District collector Mr Das informed that Rs 8 cores to be spent saline embankment. Local MLA Mr Bishnu Das and zilla arishad president Mr Nat bar Barik were also present. In October 1999 a super-cyclone caused extensive damage to lives, livelihoods ... Preparations were made to begin field work in Kendrapara District from the ... were in 2008 guided by the recently framed. Orissa state is vulnerable to disasters such as flood, cyclones and storm surges. ... Through project Aparajita in the year 1999 soon after the upper Cyclone 1999. ... The project is currently operational in Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts earth, said a survivor, was bliss, compared to the living-hell for those managing exist. The Orissa cyclone, though a natural calamity, has become a man-made disaster a holocaust of monstrous proportions. On October 17th '99, the first cyclone struck Ganjam district with a wind speed of 180 kms per hour. This first cyclone, which lasted 6 hours, . The area around Paradeep Port bore the full brunt of the storm. Twelve districts were affected, the worst being Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada. Unlike most cyclones, which pass within 8 hours, this cyclone continued for 34 hours wrecking havoc in 40% of Orissa. By November 30th the entire region, including the state capital, Bhubaneswar, was cut off from the rest of the world. The destruction can be imagined from the fact that even the state capital, which was 150 kms away from the centre of the storm, was not able to restore power to all parts of the city even 11 days after the calamity. Twenty-four lakh hectares were inundated with water……. both from the storm and tidal waves. And it was only a fortnight later, when the water began to recede, did the full impact of the holocaust begin to emerge……. displaying lakhs of animal carcasses and thousands of bloated human bodies. Death, disease and destruction were all around. Wild dogs attacked the carcasses; politicians and bureaucrats, the relief money and goods. While the Paradeep port authority, with access to the high-tech warning systems, took all precautions well in advance, the masses were left stranded to face the full fury of the cyclone.The super-cyclone had given enough indication of its savage fury long before it struck. For four days the cyclone circulation lay in the Bay of Bengal acquiring monstrous proportions. The Indian Meteorological Department (I.M.D.), which has a separate division for cyclone warning, had sent out a warning to Orissa and West Bengal on the super-cyclone, 4 days in advance. The Doordarshan, though it broadcast warnings, it was in such technical language, that Int. J. of Engg. Sci. & Mgmt. (IJESM), Vol. 3, Issue 1: Jan.-Mar.: 2013, 27-41 [Lohani et al. , 3(1): Jan-Mar., 2013] ISSN: 2277-5528 it could not be understood by the common people. Besides, the reports were conflicting. In fact on the very morning of October 29th, TV reports, quoting I.M.D. officials in Bhubaneswar said “the latest reports say that the cyclone, centred just 180 kms from south-east of Paradip, has changed its path slightly and is heading for the West Bengal coast". Yet, within hours of this broadcast the cyclone struck Para deep. The 1999 Odisha cyclone , also known as Cyclone 05B, and Paradip cyclone, was the deadliest tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean since the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone, and deadliest Indian storm since 1971. The Category Five storm made landfall just weeks after a category 4 storm hit the same general area. Just prior to its Indian landfall, the cyclone weakened slightly to a 155 mph (250 km/h) cyclone with an estimated minimum central pressure of <912 mbar.[3] On October 29, the cyclone hit the Indian state of Odisha near the city of Bhubaneswar. The ridge to the north blocked further inland movement, and the cyclone stalled about 30 miles (50 km) inland of the ocean. It slowly weakened, maintaining tropical storm strength as it drifted southward. The cyclone re-emerged into the Bay of Bengal on October 31, and dissipated on November 3 over the open waters A tropical depression formed over the Malay Peninsula on October 25. It moved to the northwest and became a tropical storm on October 26. It continued to strengthen into a cyclone on October 27. On October 28, it became a severe cyclone with a peak of 160 mph (260 km/h) winds. It hit India the next day as a 155 mph (250 km/h) cyclone. It caused the deaths of 15,000 people, and heavy to extreme damage in its path of destruction. Wireless Message was first received on 26.10.99 from Revenue Department Control Room, Bhubaneswar about the severe cyclonic storm over North Andaman Sea and morning in West-North direction. All the Block Development Officers and Tahasildars were immediately informed through V.H.F. message to remain alert. Number of messages followed from Government, Special Relief Commissioner, Revenue Divisional Commissioner, and Cuttack. Wide publicity was given in Penthakata, Chandrabhaga, Astaranga and Kakatpur and other low lying areas apprising public about the severity of the cyclonic storm and to move to safer places. The field functionaries were also kept informed to take precautionary measures and evacuation of people from low-lying areas. Since Sri. P.K. Mohapatra, I.A.S. Collector, Puri was then on training to Ahmadabad, Government specially deputed to Sri S.C. Mohapatra,I.A.S. Managing Director, OMFED, Bhubaneswar to manage the situation. On 28.10.99 a meeting of all the district level officers of different departments was convened under the chairmanship of ri S.C. Mohapatra, I.A.S. All the Officers were apprised of the problems and action plan was discussed to tackle up the situation. The leading N.G.Os. of Puri town and periphery such as Ramakrishna Mission, Bharata Seva Sangha, Aditya Bahini, Nilachala Sarasat Sangha and other small and big Voluntary organizations were also requested in the meeting to tackle the unforeseen situation which was apprehended to be severe. Repeated wide publicity by mike also given from one end to the other end of the district. The B.D.Os and Tahasildars of the district were similarly instructed to make publicity and take step for rescue operation under the guidance of Senior Officers. Senior Officers were also deputed to different Blocks and to vulnerable areas to alert the people and take up evacuation/rescue by using Government vehicles and hired vehicles. On 28.10.99 night the people from low-lying areas were evacuated. About fifteen thousand people i.e. seven thousand from Puri town, two thousand from Brahmagiri area and six thousand from Astarang area were evacuated to safer places. KEYWORDS: Super clone, Remedial Measure, Coastal district, Puri, Odisha Int. J. of Engg. Sci. & Mgmt. (IJESM), Vol. 3, Issue 1: Jan.-Mar.: 2013, 27-41 [Lohani et al. , 3(1): Jan-Mar., 2013] ISSN: 2277-5528 INTRODUCTION Disasters are natural hazards that claim lives of human beings and animals, vis-à-vis results in huge damage to both natural and man-made properties resulting poverty, over population and environmental degradation. A disaster may be an event that concentrates in time and space in which a society undergoes severe damages in respect of natural resources and incurs losses in social resources. This affects the vital functioning of a society that includes biological survival such as subsistence, shelter, health, reproduction, and social survival such as the system of meaning and values. Disaster situation always differs in the nature of precipitating agents in regard to, sources of origin, degree of predictability, probability, controllability, speed, scope and destructive effects on people and physical objects that can be obtained from the recently experienced super cyclone occurred in the State of Odisha during the years of 1999. The history of disasters in India speaks that the physical features and geographical locations of a State largely determine the type of natural disaster it experiences. The regions adjacent to seashore may have more cyclone effects than the inland regions surrounded by hill ranges, which are more prone to earthquake. Thus one finds the cyclonic effects in the coastal States of India like Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, whereas earthquakes occur more in inland regions, like Uttarkashi, Latur and Kutch. The man-made disasters are largely determined by the extent of technological development. The Hatigumpha inscriptions of Orissa, ascribed to 1st century AD explain that cyclone from sea normally comes during April and May and during October and December and once in every three years in October and November. The cyclone on Bay of Bengal normally falls between 5 N.L. to 21 N.L., and since Orissa is situated between 18 N.L. and 20 N.L. this land has experienced almost 952 small and big cyclones, 451 tornadoes between 1891 and 1970. From 1901 to 1981 there were 380 cyclones out of which 272 cyclones were due to depression in Bay of Bengal and in 29 cases that were devastating.