Location of Orissa-(www.indianembassy.org)
Orissa, a state situated on the eastern coast of India along the Bay of Bengal, home to thirty-two million people was hit by a category 5 cyclone known as a ‘Cyclone05B’ on the morning of 29th October, 1999. This super cyclone struck 10 days after another cyclone struck Orissa on the evening of 17th October. The storm was the worst in the history of India. Having been rated as one of the worst storms to hit the Indian coast, this storm exceeded the tragedy of the 1997 cyclone that hit Andhra Pradesh, damaging property and human life more than any other storm (members.tripod.com, www.wikipedia.org).
Path of cyclone- (en.wikipedia.org)
‘Cyclone 05B’ revolved off the coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and intensified to become a storm on the morning of 25th October, 1999. By the next day it reached the northwest direction and built up into a cyclone. As it moved further into the northwest direction it strengthened into a severe cyclone and on the night of the 27th of October, this cyclone obtained a hurricane’s intensity. Later, on the night of 28th October, the cyclone intensified further being classified as a ‘Super cyclone’ by the Indian Meteorological Department with wind speeds exceeding 222 kmph. ‘Cyclone 05B hit the coast of Orissa near Saharbedi, a village 1.5 km from the coast in Jagatsinghpur district with a wind speed approximately 260 kmph on the morning of 29th October around 10 am (Indian Standard Time). The cyclone had a storm surge of 10 m, which is the rapid rise of sea level due to strong winds pushing on sea water along the coast. The storm moved northwest and remained immobile as a super cyclone for six hours after crossing the coast. After the being immobile for six hours, the super cyclone travelled 50 km or more inland and destroyed more than 20 million hectares of land, demolishing trees and vegetation (members.tripod.com).
Cyclone strikes Orissa on the morning of 29th Oct, 99'- (en.wikipedia.org)
The depression began in the South China Sea where there was a tropical disturbance. This disturbance moved westward and was strong enough for the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) to release a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA). However, this disturbance deteriorated as it travelled into the Pacific and the cyclone warning was cancelled. However, this disturbance reoccurred in the Andaman Sea and the TCFA was reissued. As the disturbance continued it became a Tropical Depression 5B over the Malay Peninsula and as the temperatures were warm and there was a favorable amount of wind in the atmosphere, the depression strengthened to become a Tropical Storm 5B. The storm passed Myanmar traveling the Bay of Bengal and later hitting Orissa where tens of thousands of families were forced to evacuate and move into twenty three Red Cross shelters built by the German Red Cross (www.rmsi.com).
Areas affected by Cyclone (www.indianembassy.com)
Fifteen million people were affected by this Super Cyclone in twelve different districts of Orissa along with 20,000 people and 700,000 cattle who died. The people were left homeless and around five million farmers were left unemployed. Orissa’ s economy is based mainly on agriculture, providing eighty percent of the people living in rural areas with jobs. More than half the state’s income comes from the agricultural business. One-tenth of the country’s rice production exists in the state of Orissa along with several other crops including pulses, oil seeds, sugarcane, turmeric and coconut. The people of Orissa are able to get jobs easily as they are mostly farmers and own businesses of producing crops which is where the family income comes from. Despite the many tropical storms occurring in this very state, the people still remain in their homes as they are able to gain an income easily through agriculture (members.tripod.com, www.swaminarayan.org, www.indianembassy.org).
Group waiting to be rescued (news.bbc.co.uk)
Large areas were under water for a long time (news.bbc.co.uk)
The storm brought heavy rainfall at an average of 600 mm in six days causing flash floods, sudden local floods, breaking highways, railway tracks, drains, etc. and deluged expansive regions of land in a number of districts. Ninety million trees were displaced or destroyed. Twelve districts in Orissa were affected largely. Many people died of starvation and diseases since rescue teams struggled to reach affected areas even a week after the cyclone hit. The damage caused to the property, crops and plantations, communication and transportation system was enormous, and cost approximately 100 billion rupees (member.tripod.com, www.swaminarayan.com). However, if the storm hit an MEDC, the results would have been far less than those in Orissa since India is an LEDC. Although families were evacuated, there are many people who are out of reach in villages and do not have access to radio or electricity itself, which is why a huge amount of people were left homeless and many died. Any MEDC would have evacuated all of its people because every would have knowledge of the upcoming storm due to access to television and radios. The effects would have been different in an MEDC from this particular super cyclone because fewer lives would have been lost and replacement rate would have been faster, therefore, people would not be homeless for long and the electricity and property damage would have been reinforced again to be used very quickly. Also rescue teams would have reached to affected areas easily so that people would not die from starvation or diseases.
Flood and wind uproot trees; houses destroyed (news.bbc.co.uk)
After the cyclone hit, several organizations responded with emergency relief. These organizations include the Indian Red Cross (IRCS), BAPS Care International (BAPSCI), National Council of Asian Indian Associations (NCAIA), United Nations (UNDMT), the State government and several other organizations contributed to the emergency relief necessary for Orissa. The relief effort continued until 2000 as it was hard to reach to everyone right after the cyclone struck. Many of the organizations such as NCAIA, American Red Cross, CRY, CARE and IDRF setup relief programs asking people of the world to donate to their funds so that the victims can be helped. The indian army was put into relief work as they cleared roads, brought in food and medical supplies to affected areas. The government was put into action to take care of any outbreak of disease and environmental pollution by spraying affected areas with synthetic pyrethroid to minimize the risk of malaria outbreak, setting up drug distribution centers and giving measles vaccination to kids less than five years old (www.indianembassy.org, www.wikipedia.org, www.un.org.in).
Army at work (news.bbc.co.uk)
As of now, experts believe tropical storms in the Indian Ocean occur frequently but are rarely strong enough to hit land, however, every now and then one big one hits land and causes great devastation (iq.lycos.co.uk). We cannot prevent storms from occurring but we can prevent ourselves from those storms. To prevent from being hurt from cyclones, it is best to listen to the radio and be aware of the weather news and evacuate if any storm is upcoming. Families should be aware of storm safety. They believe it might probably be the global climate change also known as global warming that is causing storms to become stronger. Experts warn people and government that in years to come, stronger tropical storms may occur due to the heating of the ocean by global warming. It is helpful to build reinforced buildings, however it would be better for the countries to take action immediately to help reduce the impact of global warming on the countries and the people (www.himalmag.com).
Bibliography
- Cyclone Resistant Construction." Frequently Asked Questions. Tripod. 1 Dec 2007 <http://members.tripod.com/str_n_tips/cyc/cyc3.htm>
- "United Nations Special Report on Orissa Super Cyclone." UNITED NATIONS DISASTER MANAGEMENT TEAM (UNDMT), INDIA. 2000. United Nations. 1 Dec 2007 <http://www.un.org.in/dmt/orissa/dmt.htm>
- "1999 Orissa Cyclone." Storm History. 22 November, 2007. Wikipedia. 1 Dec 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Orissa_cyclone>
- "Conference on Disaster Management." PERFORMANCE OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT IN THE OCT 1999 . 2001. Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences. 1 Dec 2007
- "Embassy of India." Orissa Cyclones. 2003. Indian Embassy. 1 Dec 2007
- "Relief Work." Orissa Cyclone Relief, 1999. 1999. BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. 1 Dec 2007
- "Lycos IQ." Questions and Answers. 14 October, 2007. Lycos, Inc. . 1 Dec 2007
- "Himal South Asian." Southasian Briefs. 2007. HIMAL. 1 Dec 2007
.<http://www.himalmag.com/2007/june/southasian_briefs.htm>.
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