Balasore: Relief, rescue and restoration work have posed a major challenge for the district administration here after cyclone Yaas battered this district inundating over 86 villages and thousands of acres of farmlands.
District Collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty said that the relief and restoration work is the main focus of the district administration now.
People whose houses have been marooned are being rescued and rehabilitated in the multipurpose cyclone centres and provided with food and drinking water. Generators are being put into use to ensure drinking water supply to the areas which have been devastated due to the cyclone.
Over 86 villages have been inundated during the calamity and people in these areas are being provided with drinking water through mobile vans.
Fire-fighters, ODRAF and NDRF personnel are clearing uprooted trees and utility poles on various routes for smooth movement of traffic and people.
All the officials are working to prepare an assessment of the losses to their respective departments in various blocks. The Health department is keeping a close watch on the situation to ensure that Covid epidemic and other diseases, especially water-borne ailments, do not spread.
People have been asked to inform the district administration about any problem they may be facing in their respective areas, while a detailed report on the total losses will soon be submitted to the state government for assistance.
On Wednesday, surging sea water crossed the coastline and entered 86 villages out of which 20 villages were marooned and cut off from the outside world. The saline sea water also submerged thousands of acres of farmland in the district.
Fish farming, which is major occupation of people in the district due to its close proximity to the sea and rivers, has been severely affected as hundreds of prawn gheries were destroyed in the calamity.
Power supply has been disrupted as many large trees, utility poles and transmission poles were uprooted due to the impact of the gale when the cyclone made its landfall near Bahanaga here, Wednesday.
People, public representatives and administrative officials have joined hands and are relentlessly undertaking relief and restoration work. Vishal Dev, Commissioner and Secretary to the Odisha government, said that the district administration has managed the calamity well due to advanced preparations.
Except one death, no casualty has been reported from any part of the district. The administration has been focusing on rescue and relief work in the 86 inundated villages close to the sea.
People whose houses have been damaged are being provided with polythene sheets and other assistance. Loss assessment of the damaged farmlands will be made and adequate compensation will be paid to the farmers.
The district administration will make an assessment of the losses and submitted it to the state government within deadline fixed by the government, he added.
PNN
