[Sudeep_Kimster]

Latest Update:
- No electricity in Capital city & nearby areas for 3 more days.
- Electricity board working hard to restore electricity to 32 lakh homes phase by phase
- All generator sets sold out, people travelling 100kms to other cities to fetch one
- Death toll now stands at 29, last body extracted after clearing a tree from over a car
- Diesel shortage, prices raked up, people queuing up outside petrol bunks to reach their near and dear ones
- Airtel & Jio network working once outside home, if on roads. For reaching the needy, ask them to come out and call.
- Call not reachable when tried from outside Odisha network, but they can reach once they get network. Messaged my parents and they are charging phone from car-charger.

From Puri:

- No Electricity for 10 more days.
- No network still
- People desperately needing food and shelter
- Relief yet to reach them, and people out of starvation are plucking leaves and having them.
- Many villagers staged roadblock on Bhubaneswar - Puri Highway, blocking any supplies of relief due to delay in distribution.
- Water and Electricity currently the most needed and not available

Along with all this, I am surprised and angered by the fact that no mainstream media house / NEWS channels covering any sort of report and status from Odisha's affected places due to #CycloneFani.

All coverage done by local/regional news channels & media.

[boniver]

Originally Posted by Sudeep_Kimster

- Death toll now stands at 29, last body extracted after clearing a tree from over a car

According to latest reports, the death toll now stands at 38.

Along with all this, I am surprised and angered by the fact that no mainstream media house / NEWS channels covering any sort of report and status from Odisha's affected places due to #CycloneFani.

All coverage done by local/regional news channels & media.

This is pretty usual stuff. Mainstream media houses have stopped reporting about the aftermath of Fani simply because the threat is over, and people from other states aren't interested in it anymore. I'm being quite hypocritical when I say this, but since the effects of Fani were almost negligible in Kolkata, I've stopped checking up on its status too. However, before the cyclone hit land, I was keenly tracking it's path and providing updates.

Thank you so much for the updates. It'll be of great help to others who have their families in Odisha.

My heart goes out to the people of Odisha. May the state recover quickly.

[PetrolRider]

• Number of deaths are crossing 40 now, will increase more as they proceed to clear up debris.
• No power still in Bhubaneswar, inverters are dying out slowly and so are mobile handsets.
• No municipality water supply yet, mobile generators vans are charging upwards of Rs 1500/- for loading up water to overhead tanks.
• BSNL and Vodafone networks are completely out of order, though Airtel and Jio are working on certain patches. But, no voice call from out of state is possible till yet, SMS works though.
• No cash in ATMs, none of the establishments are accepting card or other mode of payments.
• Drinking water is an issue as of now, bottle waters are slowly going out of market
• Scotching heat with humidity is just making the situation worse.
• Some of the bunks have started black marketing of diesel as generators need them.
• On infrastructure level, state has been pushed back to at-least 20 years. majority of job done during last Hockey World cup are in a complete mess.

I am also pretty aghast by the apathy of mainstream media houses and current political parties on this. Donation to CM relief fund has also received minuscule response from elsewhere.

Majority of Odisha' economy based on farming and all of the summer corps are gone. It will create mayhem in next quarter as the relief would be gone and people would be left with no income.

[nibedk]

Well very few in their lifetime get to witness even one single cyclone. But I have witnessed two of the most devastating cyclones in the history of the India. The super cyclone in 99 had over 10 K casualties. This one the causalities have been reported to be less than 50 yet. The wind speeds back in 99 touched 300 km/hr. in some places and there was major flooding in quite a few places. Tsunamic waves ripped apart villages near the Paradip coastal belt and there were dead bodies floating all around in remote villages. The aftermath led to lot of diseases and more people dying.

I was in Cuttack at that point in time and remember the area near our home was so flooded that water boats were used to ferry people to safety. It took more than a month for electricity to be restored. It took more than 3-4 months for normalcy to be restored. I was a part of many relief teams and had seen the devastation up close. Words can't paint the depressing sights that I witnessed. The biggest loss was the green cover getting completely destroyed. The years that followed had unbearable summers and there were quite a few deaths each year post the cyclone.

Fast forward 20 years and another devastating cyclone rips through all the major districts that were affected by the 99 cyclone as well. Compared to 99 cyclone this wasn't a super cyclone but rather categorized as a severe cyclonic storm. Govt. was very well prepared this time and causalities were very limited. The green cover that was restored partially in the last 20 years has taken the worst hit again. This state is going to burn again. The effects could be seen the very next day after the cyclone. I shudder at the thought of unbearable summer this year and next few years to follow. I will be back at my workplace another 2 weeks from now.

Coastal India in the south eastern India has been witnessing quite a few cyclones in the last decade - Hud Hud, Phailin to name a few.

Is this mother nature's way of punishing us humans for all the wrong that we had been doing to our environment. Is this the time to take stock and react? The time to act has already been lost long back. Now is the time to react and at least make an effort to save our planet. We aren't far from the dooms day. May god bless us all and put a little sense to our minds which has been so consumed by greed and growth that it is slowly but surely leading us on the path of destruction.

[coolmind]

We should praise the government actions/NGOs involved in the timely evacuation of people to safe areas. Otherwise, the loss of lives would have been much more.
Hope it is all settled now.

[TusharK]

Cyclone Fani: Hyundai to assist owners in Odisha, West Bengal

Hyundai has created a Relief Task Force to support cyclone affected car owners in Odisha and West Bengal.



An emergency road service team comprising of 26 flatbed trucks and 21 towing trucks have been deployed to assist customers. The toll free number for towing the vehicles is 0124-4343937.

Additionally, over 40 technicians have been appointed to service the affected vehicles. Hyundai is also offering discounts on lubricants and parts required to repair cyclone affected vehicles as well as a 50% discount on depreciation on insurance claims.

Link to Team-BHP News

[SDP]

Dear BHPians,

The following is a message received from a close friend from Bhubaneswar.

Devastation is too much and it will take monumental effort and fund to restore normalcy .. Since last 4 days there is no electricity, water in bhubaneswar, puri and in the coastal belt . Around 14000 villages impacted, 3 million people impacted , 1.5 million electric poles destroyed.

Somehow media has not given due weightage to this.

Please spread the word and help out in any way you can.
Here's the official state govt donation link:
(https://cmrfodisha.gov.in/donation/onlinedonation.php)

A humble request to all BHPians to extend a helping hand.

[Soumyajit9]

My hometown Bhubaneswar and birth town Puri have been devastated.
Our ancestral house in Puri is massively hit. Our apartment in Bhubaneswar has broken windows, glasses.
Maa and Baba are alone dealing with such a thing. Brother is going on Wednesday from Bangalore.
No one can fathom the restlessness and helplessness I am going though each hour, sitting here 13,000 miles away from them.

Currently limited cellphone network only. Calls made from Bhubaneswar are only going though. Calls made to Bhubaneswar and Puri from outside still not going though. This is on Vodafone and Jio networks only.
I was able to speak to them on Saturday night for about 3 minutes on WhatsApp call on Jio network.
Electricity still remains a distant dream. Living in an apartment, they are getting about 3-4 hours of generator produced electricity to charge phone, load overhead tanks, refill aquaguard water.
This is the situation in Bhubaneswar.

Back in Puri, we still have no contact with our aged aunts living there. Once my brother lands in Bhubaneswar he will try to go to Puri to bring them to Bhubaneswar. Puri is devastated. I received a few drone footage on WhatApp and it looks like a war zone. Few YouTube searches will show the extent of damage. Again, this is in Bhubaneswar and Puri towns. I can't imagine the condition of the villages and the people who were evacuated. They have no homes left and will live in shelters for a long time to come.

Okay, taking a deep breath now. Vented out my helplessness.

The guy who helped raise massive funds on FB for Pulwama victims, has started a FB Fundraiser for Odisha.
Appealing to all fellow BHPians to contribute any amount that can help rebuild coastal Odisha.

https://www.facebook.com/donate/5260...e=external_url

[TusharK]

Tata extends service support to owners in cyclone-hit Odisha

Tata Motors has announced service support for all Tata vehicles in the cyclone-hit state of Odisha. Customers can call for Tata Motors Roadside Assistance on 1800 209 7979 to get their vehicles towed to the nearest authorized service centre.



Tata Motors is also offering 50% discount on spare parts and labour costs in cyclone-affected areas. Customers will not be charged for the towing service.

According to Tata Motors, service centres in the affected areas have been put on high alert. Additional towing trucks have been put into service and special call centre executives who are fluent in the regional language have been appointed.

Link to Team-BHP News

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by SDP

Please spread the word and help out in any way you can.
Here's the official state govt donation link:
(https://cmrfodisha.gov.in/donation/onlinedonation.php)

A humble request to all BHPians to extend a helping hand.

Thank you SDP, every penny counts.

Here are few more options shared by CMO, Odisha twitter handle @CMO_Odisha :


I am not sure, how to post link to twitter posts, hence took down screen shots and uploaded here. My sincere apologies if I did not follow the proper procedure.

[TusharK]

VW extends service support to cyclone-hit Odisha

Volkswagen has announced free roadside assistance and service support for customers affected by the recent cyclone in Odisha.



Customers can call on 1800 102 1155 or 1800 419 1155 for roadside assistance and get their cars transported to the nearest Volkswagen dealer for no additional cost. Besides this, affected customers will be offered a discount on the repair invoice.

Volkswagen has issued repair guidelines across dealerships and has geared-up its technical support staff and parts supply chain in the region to cater to cyclone-affected customers.

Link to Team-BHP News