As Cyclone Fani hits India’s eastern coast, preparedness saves thousands of lives · Global Voices
Map plotting the track and the intensity of the Cyclone Fani that ravaged India and Bangladesh. Image via Wikipedia. Public Domain.
When the severe Cyclone Fani made landfall in the Indian state of Odisha on May 3, it took 24 lives before spreading to neighboring West Bengal and then Bangladesh. Named by Bangladesh, Fani means the hood of a snake in Bengali and other South Asian languages. It was the second most powerful cyclonic storm in 20 years after the 1999 Odisha Cyclone (also known as 99 Super Cyclone).
Odisha claimed over 10,000 lives, but many more were saved because of the local administration's resilience and planned evacuation carried out with support from thousands of volunteers. With Cyclone Fani, the local administration also prepared in advance as they expected Fani to hit 10,000 villages and 52 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in 14 districts in Odisha.
The New York Times reported:
To warn people of what was coming, they deployed everything they had: 2.6 million text messages, 43,000 volunteers, nearly 1,000 emergency workers, television commercials, coastal sirens, buses, police officers, and public address systems blaring the same message on a loop, in local language, in very clear terms: ‘A cyclone is coming. Get to the shelters.’
The chief minister officer of Odisha tweeted to request financial support from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to manage post-disaster rehabilitation efforts wherein anyone in distress can alert the officials using hashtag #CycloneFaniSOS, tweet to @SRC_Odisha or call on an emergency helpline at <PHONE_NUMBER>.
#Odisha has been devastated by #CycloneFani. Please help rebuild precious lives with your online contribution to Chief Minister Relief Fund via link: https://t.co/C2LrUttIsr pic.twitter.com/gtEb9viHk2
— <PERSON> (@Naveen_Odisha) May 4, 2019
The official Twitter account of <PERSON>, Chief Minister Andhra Pradesh informed:
We are closely monitoring the damage caused to agricultural crops by #CycloneFani. Farmers can report the damage & losses on one of the following:
1. People First app https://t.co/qYQO66W8PO
2. 206
Kaizala AP CM Connect https://t.co/3ZQ4C3RCwa
3. RTG website https://t.co/zxLPRwxPLm pic.twitter.com/yyReR73luZ
— <PERSON> (@ncbn) May 3, 2019
The cyclone was as strong as a Category 4 hurricane with Category 5 being the highest level recorded based on the Saffir–Simpson scale with wind speeds between 209–251 kilometers per hour at the Category 4 level. At the time of reporting on May 3, 56,000 officials were deployed in India to help evacuate more than 1 million people to designated shelters.
So far 24 killed in Odisha due to Fani. @htTweets
— ????????? ??????? (@debabrata2008) May 5, 2019
Fani united everyone in Odisha — the local administration worked with media houses to spread a cautionary message to masses. <PERSON>, CEO of Bhubaneswar Smart City, an administrator of Odisha's capital, tweeted requests to media channels to relay the government's messages:
After strong winds in initial phase, Eye(centre) is the calm part. It’s deceptive and people tend to come on to the roads. Once Eye passes, gusty winds take over – higher wind speed n heavy rainfall. very dangerous. Bhubaneswar going thru this phase now! 4 hrs of cyclone so far! pic.twitter.com/yrAjkpqqC8
— <PERSON> (@rvineel_krishna) May 3, 2019
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) appreciated the Zero Causality Policy by India Meteorological Department (IMD), a federal government department that mitigates the risks of disaster management for natural calamities:
India's ‘zero casualty’ policy, pinpoint warnings minimised #CycloneFani deaths #ResilienceForAll https://t.co/9z4tR7iegH via @economictimes
— UNDRR (@unisdr) May 4, 2019
<PERSON>, who works for the Odisha government, tweeted how difficult it was to evacuate people from their homes to safe places:
True. Experienced this being in the side of the Govt. 206