Five days after Cyclone Gaja made its midnight landfall between Vedaranyam and Nagapattinam, almost every road, street and habitat here is littered with electrical posts, cables, cellphone towers, tree trunks and branches. Steel roofs of petrol bunks and buildings have been blown off; small bus stands collapsed as their pillars got twisted. Boats were flung away to distant places. There is hardly any structure that has escaped the fury of cyclone.
“The scale of devastation indicates that the impact of this cyclone is at least 10 times more severe than Cyclone Thane (that hit Cuddalore in 2011). It will take at least a month to restore a semblance of normalcy in Nagapattinam,” a senior government official overseeing the relief works told The Hindu .
Though the government was fully prepared to face the situation, the damage on the ground shows its resources may not be enough and civil society has to pitch in urgently. The government pressed into service 15 teams in Nagapattinam, each headed by a Deputy Collector. While the damage is unprecedented and beyond what government officials expected, what is making relief and restoration work difficult is the continuous rain.
People are up in arms against the government in many places and are staging road blockades.
CM cancels survey
The fact that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had to cancel his aerial survey of Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam on Tuesday highlighted the public mood over the prevailing situation. “Give us tarpaulins to cover the roof of our houses,” is the demand of the people in many places.
Power supply has not been restored fully. Substations are in disrepair. Workers of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) are the most ubiquitous of the government workers who are involved in the restoration efforts. One could see them in every corner of the district erecting new posts and connecting power lines. Conservancy workers from other districts are also camping here.
Only palm trees have survived. All other trees have been uprooted. Coconut trees, muringa, tamarind, mango, curry leaf trees in the front and backyard of every house that regularly supplied the daily requirements of every kitchen are either uprooted or broken. Even karuvelam , the invasive species that can withstand rough weathers, look as if they were razed by bulldozers.
“As per our estimation coconut trees in 30,000 hectares in districts, including Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Thanjavur, have been destroyed and it would cost ₹1,600 to cut and clear a single tree. It will cost ₹2.06 lakh to replant and maintain till a tree is ready for harvest,” said Agriculture Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, who is overseeing relief work along with Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan.
The district irrigated by Cauvery and its tributaries depends on water tankers for survival. One can see scores of water tanks making a beeline to small towns and villages. In many hamlets, people are living in relief camps and relocating them is a Himalayan task as most of the houses are beyond repair.
Scores of people waited for the Chief Minister at Poigainallur to receive relief materials. After waiting for two-and-a-half hours they realised that the Chief Minister was not coming. Ministers camping in the district rushed to the spot and distributed relief materials.
