Nature’s Fury Unleashed – by Cyclone Amphan over India, Bangladesh and Bhutan
Table of Contents
About Cyclone Amphan
On 19th May 2020, a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm, named Cyclone Amphan, stood centered about 200 kms off the coast of Digha in southern West Bengal. It was expected to make landfall around the afternoon of 20thMay on the Bengal coast at wind speeds exceeding 190 km/hr. Since 1999, no other storm has been of this severity, even including the 2009 Aila.
It was raining from the afternoon of 19th but it was the calm preceding the storm, literally! Come 20th, Cyclone Amphan made landfall around 2.30 pm near Digha and went on a rampage thereafter… 200 kms away Kolkata waited for it to strike, and strike it did. At wind speeds between 115 to 133 km/hr Amphan battered Kolkata, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Till 23rd May, 80+ deaths have been documented in the state, most from drowning and electrocution. Near the coastal areas, agricultural lands have been inundated with saline water, rendering them infertile for a long time.
Thousands of houses have been blown away, leaving many homeless. Had 5 lac people not been evacuated before Cyclone Amphan struck, many more could have lost their lives. During the Covid-19 crisis, this came as salt on Bengal’s wounds – those who had already lost their livelihoods due to Corona, many of them lost even their agricultural produce and even houses. Harvested crops left in the fields for transportation will rot before they can be extracted, those not yet harvested may rot away while standing. Fresh sowing of paddy will not only get delayed, but those farmers who depend on one crop to finance their next may be looking at an uncertain future.
Closer home, in Kolkata, it was a scary four hours during which Cyclone Amphan raged and wreaked havoc. Those in highrises complained of motion sickness as their buildings swayed in the wind. Higher up, the wind speed was close to 150 kmph! Hundreds of trees uprooted, power lines falling on inundated roads electrocuted nearly 20 people, cars and buses crushed under falling trees….it was mayhem! 50 hours on, many pockets in the city are still without power and thus water, cable connections have been severed and mobile connections are either absent or scratchy. Two days later, the entire state is slowly trying to limp back to normalcy, but for many, life will never be the same again.
Cyclone Amphan – Rescue
Along with NDRF and SDRF, Kolkata Police deserve a lot of praise and kudos! From clearing roadblocks of fallen trees to diverting traffic from waterlogged streets, they have reached out to all the needy at this moment of crisis. Tireless and peerless, the mostly maligned Police force have been at the forefront of crisis management and have truly outdone themselves. A word of praise for the State Administration is also in order, from evacuating more than 5 lac people to rehabilitation, lot of people have been working tirelessly. Though it’s true that a lot has to be done, in terms of power and water supply, patience is required at this moment of crisis, for this large scale devastation cannot be undone this quickly.
Every such instance reminds us, that the true master of this Earth, is not humankind but Nature. We, with all our Nuclear weapons and technological advances, are insignificant ants in front of Nature and in one fell sweep it keeps showing us our place on the pecking order.
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