Mother nature, why this chaos?

Mother nature, why this chaos? It is five days, and with each passing day as the extent of devastation caused by you and the suffering of the people reach me, my feelings of sympathy for the people in the devastated city of Visakhapatnam and the large areas extending up to Srikakulam and into Odisha State, deepen.

On the eve of the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction that is on 12th October 2014; a very severe Cyclonic Storm Hudhud struck the east coast of our country at Visakhapatnam, with wind speeds touching 200 Kmph. The strong winds together with heavy rainfall has uprooted trees and power pylons and caused widespread destruction of property in the northern districts of Andhra Pradesh and southern districts of Odisha, inundating several villages. The city of Visakhapatnam which felt the full force of the cyclone experienced extensive damage to major infrastructure, including the city’s Airport and power supplies across the city were completely cut off.  Due to very early warning of the cyclone, people were evacuated by the authorities to safe shelters and this prevented heavy loss of life.

Added to this the exploitation of the local businessmen in these difficult times by selling all essential items like water, milk, vegetables, other groceries, petrol, diesel and even newspapers at exorbitant prices is very painful. Hope this inhuman situation will end soon as attempts by authorities on a war footing to combat the shortage of daily needs is being overcome. And as for the devastation of infrastructure, properties and agriculture is concerned, I hope things will gradually improve with aid pouring in from all corners, though restoration of some facilities may take a very long time.

All that I could do out of sympathy was to follow the instructions on TV yesterday and contribute a little, a very little to the relief efforts.

I wish normalcy is restored in all the affected areas at the earliest.