-----Original Message----- From: Lynette Dumble [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday, November 14, 1999 3:45 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [GSN] Dateline Orissa: A lone woman with a child signalling desperately!!! From: Lynette Dumble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Dear all, Further to Vandana 's "A lesson in humility" published in The Hindu, November 10, 1999, the following two articles give some insight into the magnitude of the largely man-made supercyclone in Orissa: a human death toll already exceeding 9,000 [with another 8,000 "missing"], diabolical impacts on women, horrifying animal carnage, and with the survivors desperate for food and shelter, relief operations in the worst-affected block were on Saturday suspended for three days, as the entire government machinery and volunteers was re-engaged for the mass disposal of human bodies and animal carcasses in the area. Goddess help us all if the present world order can't be jolted out of its mindless arrogance - Lynette. ============================== <http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/141199/detFEA13.htm>http://www.hindu stantimes.com/nonfram/141199/detFEA13.htm HINDUSTAN TIMES, Sunday, November 14, 1999, New Delhi � Dateline Orissa: A lone woman with a child signalling desperately� (Anita Kanungo) Delhi, ironically, is where I first feel the chaos of the cyclone. I am at New Delhi railway station to get my parents� ticket to Bhubaneswar cancelled. Common sense dictates the train won't be going. The man at the counter insists it will, and imposes a hefty cancellation fee. Common sense prevails. I fill the form to claim a refund. A fortnight later, I�m still waiting. I fly into Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, November 3. The cyclone had lashed Orissa for 36 hours beginning October 29, and destroyed it. But Indian enterprise prevails: those who can are already making a quick buck. The cabbie charges thrice the normal amount from the airport. My hotel � the only one to taking guests � has new rules. No room service, no electricity, no hot water, and only deluxe rooms available at Rs 2,700 a night. Armed with a torch, I lug my bags to the third floor. A meal of rice, dal and vegetables costs Rs 200. The next day I pay Rs 1,200 to travel 20 miles to Cuttack. Even as I wonder whether office will clear the bill, I ask the driver: ��When will you start charging normal rates?�� He replies, ��When the electric and water connections are restored and food is available at normal rates.�� Near the deer park in Cuttack, I come across a gang of young men on bikes and Lunas. A deer is trussed across one of the bikes. I think the boys are disposing of a carcass, when suddenly, I see the deer�s legs shake. Involuntarily, I scream. A police jeep screeches to a stop. The boys run for cover, and the petrified deer hides amidst fallen tree branches. I plead with the policemen to save the deer, but they move on impassively. I know human hunger is more important than a deer � but it symbolises life in this ravaged state. I drive to the market for help, and come upon the car of the Inspector General of Police. I gush out my story, he reluctantly radios for help. Is the deer alive? Stories about food riots return. I shudder. But a deer also deserves to live... I reach Chalabeda village in Mahanga block of Cuttack district. The route to the village had been cleared only last night. Hungry men and women mob me and snatch whatever I�m carrying. I scream I�m not a government official, I�m a journalist. They then deluge me with a litany of complaints. Luckily, a helicopter drones overhead and the excited villagers signal with their gamchhas. The chopper drops some food. Says Lakshman Sethi, ��We survived on banana leaves and coconut water for four days. For the past two days we have received food from the helicopters but it isn't enough.�� Adds Ranjita Behera, ��Give us clothes and polythene sheets. The people in whose house we have taken shelter don�t want us now. Where shall we go? Our children are already ill, we need help quickly.�� A middle-aged woman tugs at my sleeve, ��I am a widow, who will look after me?�� Two people in neighbouring Govindpur are down with cholera. ��If we don't get bleaching powder and other disinfectants, we will not survive,�� says Mahadev. Later, I catch up with Wing Commander SK Singh, who is commanding the helicopter unit in Bhubaneswar. The task is enormous. ��There are so many claimants. We try to reach everyone but it is not possible,�� he says. ��At Basdeopur, there was a lone woman standing atop a house with a child. There was water all around. They were signalling desperately. I managed to throw two bags in their direction. They will survive for now.�� Group Captain Nat speaks of how one marooned village selflessly signalled to the pilots to move on, pointing to sacks of material they already had. Perhaps villagers are accustomed to standing by each other. On November 6, I�m part of the media team taken to see the naval relief operations. Jagatsinghpur district resembles Chilka lake. The Sea King chopper loses height. Bloated bodies and carcasses float in the water: it�s unreal, remote, like scenes from the Titanic. We fly 20 feet above the water: the stench is nauseating. My village in Balikuda block is one of the worst affected. The Army hasn�t been able to reach it yet. What could be left of it, I wonder. INS Gharial was the first ship to arrive at Paradip in the wee hours of October 30. Commander Kashyap Kumar says, ��The sea was so rough, the food slipped from our plates, we couldn�t see a thing. Even seasoned seafarers fell sick. The rain was so sharp, it felt like rubber bullets.�� The weather cleared the following day to reveal hundreds of smashed boats, shredded fishing nets � and corpses. At the naval first aid camp, I talk to fisherwoman Kondamma from Sandhakuda, which the angry sea washed away. How many survived, I ask her. ��I don't know and does it matter? Look, my daughter and I survived,�� she replies, pointing to the five-year-old being administered an intravenous drip. ��Now we will die from illness and hunger. It would have been better had we been washed away.�� This fear is whispered everywhere. Thirsty people drink from canals smelling of putrefied bodies. Epidemics have started, snake bites are on the rise. Where are Orissa government doctors? Even in remote areas, the only ones you meet are from Andhra Pradesh. The state has collapsed, leadership is absent. In Bhubaneswar, officials are constantly huddled in meetings, and relief operations are just manoeuvres in the political chess game between the state and Centre. Damn the people, let them die, the living will come to vote anyway, seems to be the attitude. ��Now that the relief money has been sanctioned, we will get our salaries on time,�� smiles a bureaucrat. Marooned villagers are the last priority. The only concern is to restore electricity and water to Bhubaneswar. Junior officials have kept away from office � and the government has issued advertisements threatening them with dire consequences. Rabi Das, editor of Oriya daily Paryabhevkhya quips, ��Nobody takes the threat seriously. They know this government is on its way out. For a government clamouring to get this declared a national calamity, it has failed to get its own men to work on an emergency footing.�� The cyclone has also shattered Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee�s image. Says a tea-stall owner, ��We thought Vajpayee would be unlike other prime ministers. But he too came, waved from the plane and returned.�� But look at Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, says another. ��He brought us relief while our government is still wailing about being hit by the cyclone.�� If Naidu is smart, he will float an Oriya Desam Party. No joking. He�ll sweep the state. ============================== <http://www.timesofindia.com/today/14indi2.htm>http://www.timesofindia.com/ today/14indi2.htm TIMES OF INDIA, Sunday 14 November 1999 Relief work suspended in Ersama Rajaram Satapathy ERSAMA: In a significant development, cyclone relief operations in Orissa's worst-affected Ersama block were on Saturday suspended for three days and the entire government machinery and volunteers working here re-engaged for mass disposal of human bodies and animal carcasses in the area. Inquiries revealed that the district administration took the decision because the undisposed bodies of the dead, lying in huge numbers all over the block, posed a serious threat to the lives of the survivors. Of the estimated 9,400 deaths officially reported from the 12 affected districts so far, Ersama block alone accounts for about 6,000 of them. There are also 8,000 missing persons reported from the block's 24 panchayats comprising about 200 villages, besides the estimated 70,000 heads of cattle that perished in the October 29 cyclone. But the process of disposal of bodies was found to be too slow. With little cooperation coming from the local people, the authorities by Friday evening could manage to dispose of only 1,827 bodies and 2,534 animal carcasses, thanks to volunteers from the Anand Marg, the RSS, Missionaries of Charities, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) women personnel, the Tata Relief Committee and other organisations. ``Even one month is insufficient to burn all the bodies. They are everywhere - in the paddy fields, water bodies and along the roads,'' remarked Acharya Deveswarananda Abadhut, an Anand Marg volunteer, as a mass pyre was lit near Nagri bridge. ``We are yet to touch places like Japa, Ambiki and Padampur gram panchayats because they are inaccessible and piles of bodies are still lying there,'' he added. The Army had earlier suggested evacuation of all survivors for disinfecting Ersama block because the area had become unfit for people to live in. But the state government rejected the proposal. State relief commissioner D.N. Padhy had during a media briefing in Bhubaneswar a few days ago claimed that 80 per cent of the bodies had already been disposed and there was no threat of an epidemic in the area. This correspondent, who visited the area on Friday, found that the entire block was still stinking. Highly decomposed bodies and animal carcasses were strewn all over. Since the killer cyclone has wiped out dogs, vultures and all birds in the area, there is no carnivorous species left to eat the carcasses. Be it the officials, volunteers or the long rows of hungry people before free kitchens opened at some places, all had their faces covered with either disposable masks or towels. ``More than relief distribution, disposal of the dead has now emerged as our primary task. It is indeed a serious problem, which, if not addressed on a war footing, could lead to any situation,'' pointed out additional relief commissioner Saroj Jha, especially deployed to look after the block. Stating that the decision to discontinue relief operations was taken in consultation with the sarpanches and local politicians, Mr Jha said efforts were on to dispose all bodies by November 20. The block authorities have since asked the state government to rush at least 500 pairs of boots, besides gloves, a huge quantity of antiseptic lotion, bleaching powder, empty barrels and containers for carrying diesel and kerosene and more small trucks for the purpose. Mr Jha said nearly 2,000 Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) volunteers are being flown from different states to help disposal of the bodies in the block. --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- Independent contractors: Find your next project gig through JobSwarm! You can even make $$$ by referring friends. <a href=" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/jobswarm2 ">Click Here</a> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
