India's Odisha suffers 43 deaths in cyclone Fani

NEW DELHI -- The deadly cyclone that hit the Indian coastal areas on May 3, particularly in the eastern state of Odisha, has left behind a horrific tale of loss of human and animals lives, damages to infrastructure, government and private properties and vegetation.

Speaking to Xinhua over the phone, Odisha government sources put the total number of human deaths at 43, and rough estimates put the total loss in financial terms up to 50,000 crore Indian Rupees (over $7 billion), with more than half a million houses completely or partially damaged.

All Odisha's 14 districts were affected, said Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner (Cyclone) Bishnupada Sethi.

Food packets, relief material and medicines are being distributed among the affected people living in relief camps. In Puri, there is a cash crunch like situation, as almost no cash is available in the ATMs.

In the words of Sethi, it might take up to a decade before the state fully recovers from the damages suffered in the cyclone. "We are working to get normal daily life back on track, which might take up to a decade. Exact assessment of the damages rendered is yet to be known, as communication is yet to be restored in many affected areas," Sethi said.

More than 16 million people in as many as 18,168 villages were directly affected by the deadly cyclone, described as the worst ever in the past two decades. The total livestock casualty has been estimated to be more than 3.7 million.

Even after nine days, large parts in state capital Bhubaneswar and the neighbouring district of Puri remain without electricity and the distribution of drinking water and food supplies still remains erratic.

The ecological, financial and infrastructural damage is much larger than what is anticipated. Odisha's two ecological hotspots -- fresh water lake 'Chilka' and Balukhand-Konark wildlife sanctuary have been hit hard. The 'Chilka' lake is likely to become more saline due to the increased inflow of sea water during the cyclone which was accompanied by strong winds up to 200 km per hour.

The increased salinity would adversely affect marine life in the 'Chilka' lake. Millions of trees have been uprooted in the Balukhand-Konark wildlife sanctuary.

The state government has an uphill task of repairing nearly 80,000 km of low tension power lines and 64,000 power distribution transformers which got damaged. It is expected that the power supply would be restored in the main cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack by next week, whereas it would take at least a month's time to restore power in the city of Puri, which is known for the world-famous Jagannath temple.