Debadurllav Harichandan, OP
Bhubaneswar: Puri district bore the maximum brunt of the four cyclones that hit the state in the past five years in terms of damage and destruction of properties. Of the four cyclones in the past five years, ‘Fani’ and ‘Bulbul’ occurred in 2019, while ‘Amphan’ and ‘Yaas’ hit the state in 2020 and 2021, respectively. According to the data shared by the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), a total of 2,78,553 houses were damaged in the densely populated Puri district during the cyclones, followed by Khurda (1,13,632 houses), Cuttack (92,649 houses), Kendrapara (25,526 houses) and Jagatsinghpur (17,557 houses) during the period. The damaged houses were a combination of kutcha and pucca structures.
According to the data, ‘Fani’ in 2019 impacted the state the most in the last five years. Puri district was the most affected in that cyclone where 2,78,492 houses had been damaged. Interestingly, Khurda district did not report any damage to houses in three cyclones that occurred between 2020 and 2024. The 1,13,362 damaged houses were reported only during ‘Fani’, the data revealed. However, Cuttack and Kendrapara districts which were spared by ‘Fani’ reported damage to 92,649 and 18,092 houses, respectively, during subsequent cyclones till 2024.
However, the damage caused in Jagatsinghpur district (17,136 houses) occurred during ‘Fani’. The data revealed that Sundargarh (237) and Angul (519) districts reported the least number of damaged houses in cyclones in the past five years. Southern districts such as Koraput, Malkanagiri, Gajapati, Rayagada, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur were completely spared by the cyclones in terms of losses to properties during the period. It is pertinent to note that in the event of any calamity, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the Union Government (which makes contributions to NDRF), share a funding ratio of 75:25 for compensation to people.
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Following the post-assessment survey conducted by the InterMinisterial Central Team as well as state representatives, a fixed amount of Rs 95,100 to Rs 1,01,900 is allocated for severely damaged houses, while for partially damaged houses, Rs 5,200 is disbursed. Accordingly, Puri district received the highest allocation of Rs 319.50 crore for cyclone management from NDRF and SDRF, while Khurda, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Ganjam received Rs 176.04 crore, Rs 139.16 crore, Rs 96.20 crore and Rs 95.54 crore, respectively.