Gujarat Excels In Cyclone Combat

 

BY R.K. MISRA

Once is sure enough but twice can be too fearsome !

Over twenty-two years after a massive earthquake flattened Kutch district of Gujarat bordering Pakistan, the once blood-soaked region seemed headed for a double whammy last week.

 June 14 dawned to searing winds  and soaking skies slicing the coastal landmass of Saurashtra and a 3.5 magnitude tremor in Kutch as the entrails of the earth and the wrath of the ocean joined in a destroyer dance on a cowering populace. Mercifully the earth relented though the sky had no such intentions as the ardour of the Arabian Sea poured its frenzy on the comely coastline drenching its depths in a well of water. Cyclone Biparjoy  has come and gone after a relentless pummeling and a night of fury  leaving  ordinary mortals to pick up the remnants of their soggy, shattered and poverty penetrated lives.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah who conducted an aerial survey of the cyclone affected region reiterated the Gujarat government’s claim that ‘not a single life was lost’ though unofficial sources have put the fatalities at a considerably low  count of five so far. Among them,40 year old Rajshri Kasundra was killed  in Maliya Miyana near Morbi when a wind flown tin sheet fell on her .Another woman was killed in a wall collapse in Vadodara, published reports said. While the prevalent  BJP culture is to lay all accomplishments  at the doorsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the fact is that Gujarat chief minister Bhupendrabhai Patel and state chief secretary ,Raj Kumar deserve compliments for their ability to foresee a potential crisis, deftly plan for it- angularities and all-and have trained manpower in position when it strikes, to deal with the aftermath.

The Patel administration seems to have factored-in the devastation caused by the 1998 cyclone on the same Saurashtra-Kutch coast in its preventive planning for the very heavy death roll. Helped in no small a manner by Manorama Mohanty and her team in the India Meteorological department(IMD),Gujarat which tracked the cyclone from its inception on June 6 and projected landfall locations making it possible  for concentrated-anticipatory action.

The most endearing part of the foresight entailed shifting of 1152 pregnant women to safer places, of which 552 were from Kutch alone. Seven hundred and seven of these had hospital deliveries while 3 delivered in the 108 ambulances.

For  those who watched the governmental effort from close quarters, the mobilization was done on a war-footing with the NDRF,SDRF even para-military forces in deployment  and  the Coast Guard, Army, Navy and Air Force standing by. Over one lakh people in the eight coastal districts-an arch stretching from Narayan Sarovar to Dwarka to Somnath and beyond were evacuated, almost half of them from Kutch alone. Over 30,000 people in Kutch were put in shelter homes.

The aftermath of the cyclone havoc speaks of a long night ahead both for the people as well as the official agencies working to restore normal services. The reports of damage to infrastructure, water invaded fields and farms, homes and hearths are  slowly beginning to trickle in. In Kutch alone 80,000 electricity poles are in the dumps and over 33,000 hectares of land rendered temporarily unusable. Power supply to over 4000 villages has been  fully or partially affected. Unending sheets of water have blighted coastal villages, Jhakhau port itself is a mess. Though fishing boats had most been sheltered-in but  these have reported large scale damage. The loss of bovine life still remains to be assessed.

The cyclone  has had a crippling affect on trade and industry. The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry(GCCI) has put the loss to industrial trade at Rs 5000 crores. There are almost 10,000 trucks stranded in Kutch as the bulk of the roads in the coastal areas are blocked with fallen trees.

The Marine Salt Manufacturers Association, estimates that 5 lakh tonnes of harvested salt in their hubs in Saurashtra-Kutch region  has been washed away. The advance warning was of little avail, said Dilubha Jadeja , president of the association, as the stocks were too huge to move. The 1000- unit ceramics hub in Morbi lies closed and a revenue loss of Rs 500 crores stares them in the face. Jamnagar’s 9000-unit s brass part industry which produces 4000 tonnes of brass parts every month is also in a limbo until power is restored.

In the aftermath of the 2001 earthquake, a sympathetic Centre and a keen state government made available a clutch of incentives that saw the region blossom as a major industrial hub. It is now cradling over 350 major industries helmed by top corporates and about 6500 medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) that earns the country Rs 6.5 lakh crores annually. Their production loss is put at around Rs 500 crores per day. Kandla and Mundra ports handle a high volume of India’s cargo. The state government will soon get into the assessment of farm and other losses before it works out a compensation/aid package.

 Meanwhile an interesting observation that has emerged from the IMD is that the bulk of the cyclones  affecting the state since 2019 have majorly originated from near Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.

Published in editions dated June 20,2023

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