It’s resilient battle against nature’s fury & COVID-19 together as cyclone Yass hurtles towards Odisha

As a very severe cyclone is hurtling towards the State, authorities in the vulnerable coastal districts find it a herculean task to ensure the safety of people from nature’s fury and pandemic as the evacuation of susceptible seaside residents have begun.

It is an enormous challenge for safeguarding the people amid the raging COVID-19 surge. Maintaining social distancing norms while carrying out evacuation has become an uphill task. Still we are trying to convince the people not to take chances and shift to the safety of cyclone shelter buildings and pucca houses, said an official monitoring the evacuation work in Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district.

The seaside block was battered by the 1999 super cyclone as an estimated 10,000 people had perished then with the onslaught of the marauding tidal surge.

We are planning to begin the evacuation work today evening or early morning on Tuesday. There are signs of reluctance among some sections of people. The fear of getting infected from cyclone shelters bothers people. But we have sensitized the locals on the observance of COVID protocol in the evacuation work. The unwilling people are slowly evincing interest to shift to safety, said Rabindra Pradhan Block Development Officer, Rajnagar block in Kendrapara district.

We have created separate facilities for COVID infected, symptomatic people, besides the healthy and normal people. If required, the symptomatic people will undergo covid antigen test. If tested positive, they will be housed segregated from others, he said, adding that the block administration has readied 46 cyclone shelters and 51 school buildings.

Around 100 people have so far been shifted to Okilopal cyclone shelter while 20 pregnant women from Talchua and Rangani were shifted to Rajnagar Community Health Centre, he said.

Around 35,000 to 40,000 are being planned to be shifted to temporary shelters. If the people in vulnerable pockets do not volunteer, we may opt for forced evacuation because of the anticipated severity of the cyclone this time, he added.

The cyclone Fani had battered coastal Odisha in May, 2019. However evacuation exercise was a smooth sailing affair as there was no COVID-19 scare then. The people had largely volunteered to safety then. In May last year, Odisha had faced the threat of cyclone Amphan when the State was battling the first wave of COVID-19. As the cyclone had largely spared the State hitting the West Bengal Coast, the authorities had not faced the challenges of evacuation last year.

With the COVID surge being much more pronounced than last year, the fear of infection remains uppermost in people’s minds.

Shifting to a shelter house is a safer option. That’s why we moved to the building in the evening hours. We are aware of the Coronavirus danger. We will abide by COVID safety protocol. Our village is quite vulnerable to tidal surge if the cyclone strikes. So we have made up our mind to battle COVID and cyclone simultaneously, said Gouranga Rout, a native of Ambiki village in Jagatsinghpur village.