The Indian Meteorological Department should be lauded for predicting Phailin’s speed and landfall accurately. The governments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh did a commendable job of evacuating lakhs of people to safety and providing for them.
Sarayu Sankar,
Chennai
Thanks to the advances in science, we no longer throw up our hands when we are faced with natural disasters. We came to terms with Phailin more easily and tackled it well to escape its untamed fury. We did our best with the available expertise and resources, and minimised human vulnerability.
Phailin threatened to be a disaster of apocalyptical proportions. But the strenuous efforts made by the Centre, the States and various agencies paid off. The people of coastal Odisha are now faced with the daunting task of repairing and rebuilding their lives.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode
This is the time for the nation to feel proud. The governments at the Centre and the States should now focus on the rehabilitation of lakhs of people uprooted by the cyclone. It is a mammoth task and every agency’s coordinated effort is needed to quicken the process.
Rameeza A. Rasheed,
Chennai
The after-effects of a cyclone are devastating and cruel for persons affected by it. What is heartening is that the devastation caused by Phailin in terms of human lives lost has been minimal compared to the1999 cyclone. I was posted to an Air Force base in West Bengal in 1999 and I contributed in a small measure to the relief work. I hope what I saw then — some people hoarding rations and relief material — does not happen now.
Gp Capt
J.R. Arunachalam (retd.),
Chennai
A cyclone and a stampede on the same day highlighted what preparedness and the lack of it can result in. Predictably, all basic norms of safety were flouted in Datia even though a similar calamity happened in the exact spot seven years ago.
Hardly a year passes without a stampede somewhere in India. But you would be hard pressed to find even a credible study on stampedes in the Indian context.
Nabakrishna Hazarika,
Jorhat
