Gear up efforts to address post-cyclone challenges

As cyclone Amphan made its landfall in West Bengal yesterday afternoon, being weakened from a “super cyclone” to an “extremely severe cyclonic storm,” it ripped through the coastal districts of the Indian state, unleashing heavy rains and windstorm, blowing away thatched houses, uprooting trees, electric poles and swamping towns and villages on its way, according to reports in the media. Although the cyclone mostly hit West Bengal, its impacts on our coastal regions—mostly in Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna, Nijhum Dwip, Hatia, Bagherhat, Jhalakathi, Pirojpur, Borguna, Patuakhali, Bhola and Barishal—were no less devastating since large parts of the low-lying areas of these regions have been inundated by the high storm surge as the cyclone passed through our land last night. As of writing this editorial, the number of injuries or casualties could not be verified.

Post-Amphan, the immediate challenges for the government would be to ensure safe drinking water for the people, since all the freshwater sources, including tube-wells, in the affected areas have been inundated by salt water; immediately repair the parts of the coastal embankment that have been severely damaged by the tidal surge; and dig canals through the coastal embankment to remove salt water that has flooded the fish farms and cultivable land, etc. Salinity intrusion would particularly pose a threat because cultivating vegetables or crops in the land would be difficult with increased salinity level. Moreover, the affected people should be given necessary financial and food assistance by the government.

Another big challenge for the government would be to conduct health check-ups of those who had been evacuated to the cyclone centres. Needless to say, it would be very difficult because around 24 lakh people were evacuated before the cyclone made its landfall. As we have seen in media reports, social distancing and other safety measures were largely ignored by the people at the crammed cyclone shelters. Now, these people should be screened for Covid-19 symptoms and those with symptoms should be isolated immediately. The volunteer teams readied by the district administrations should help in this regard.

It should be mentioned here that the government has done a commendable job in evacuating people at the right time. All the district administrations concerned have listened to the government’s directive in this regard. We now hope that the government with all its agencies concerned will immediately address the post-cyclone challenges that the people of our coastal regions will face in the coming days.