Chennai: With the death toll rising to 40 and more than 80,000 people stranded at relief camps, the magnitude of the havoc caused by cyclone ‘Gaja’ in Tamil Nadu has left the state authorities reeling. Six coastal districts and three in the hinterland besides Karaikal in Puducherry have been ravaged. Given the enormity of the calamity, the Tamil Nadu government has urged the Centre to release funds to carry out rescue and rehabilitation operations. The situation remains grim, with despair and anger building up over so many deaths, destruction of property and livelihoods being affected. Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and DMK leader MK Stalin visited Nagapattinam and other worst-hit district to meet the people.
The chief minister said the government is undertaking the relief works on a war footing. “The government is taking every effort to remove the trees that have fallen on the roads. Ministers are on the job in the affected areas to restore normal life,” he said. Despite the elaborate preparations by the administration and the Disaster Management Agency, cyclone Gaja has taken a heavy toll. Locals have not imagined that their livelihood would be wiped out in a span of few hours by the ferocious gale winds which slapped the coast at 120 kmph last week.
Nagapattinam had witnessed a calamity of this proportion for the first time after the December 2004 tsunami. In the aftermath of the cyclone, thousands have been rendered homeless. The government has put the toll at 40, which included 16 women and three children. The damage to standing crops, coconut trees and other crops is yet to be assessed. According to the State Disaster Management Agency, 1,27,300 trees have been uprooted and over 25,000 houses severely damaged. Over 30,000 electric poles have been uprooted and around 450 electricity sub-stations damaged severely, crippling power supply in the entire region.
“At least 20,000 workers are on job to restore power,” said a top official of the department.
AIADMK leader and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai has appealed to the Centre to release funds for carrying out relief and restoration works. Though the government has opened around 500 temporary camps in the affected districts, people are alleging that food supply is woefully inadequate. Sporadic protests are being held in many places demanding early and timely assistance.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has urged the Union Home Ministry to send a team to assess the loss in the delta districts. Visiting the affected areas and extending relief materials to people, DMK president Stalin said: “After Thane, Vardah, and Ockhi, Gaja has wrecked havoc in most of the districts in the state. It is very hard to accept that so many lives have been lost.”
