wfn.org | LWF - Thoughts on India's Orissa cyclone

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

FEATURE

BISSAMCUTTACK, Orissa, India/GENEVA, 29 March 2000 (lwi) - Like an echo
from the not too distant past, the frightening images of the severe
cyclone that struck the northern coast of Orissa, India, on 29 October
1999 still ring in the minds of survivors of the disaster. Dr. John
Oommen, head of the community health department at the Christian
Hospital, Bissamcuttack (CHB), Rayagada District, Orissa put down some
thoughts based on his and others' experience in the post-cyclone relief
work. The account that follows is an edited version of the original
contribution by Oommen.

"For 48 hours, the storm raged, and by the time the wind subsided on the
31st, the [Orissa's] coastal districts had been all but smashed,"
recalls Oommen who was part of a three-man team that was sent by the
health institution to help out in medical relief work. For ten days, the
group made what he describes as a "meager" contribution, working with
the Lutheran World Service (LWS) - India. Set up in 1974, the LWS -
India is one of the 22 worldwide country programs operated by the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS).

"Much has been written about the scale of the damage. The probable
numbers of lives lost being quoted range from the ridiculously low to
the ridiculously high. I would think it would probably be around 20 to
25 thousand people dead. We will never really know for sure, because
nobody knows how many were there before the cyclone anyway. Many of the
workers from Andhra and migrants from Bengal were not on any list, and
are therefore wiped out without a trace," Oommen remarks.

Overall, he says, the damage can be put into four categories;
environmental - since the trees are gone and fields are salty among
other effects; infrastructural - considering that at the family level,
only the pucca (solid) houses survived and at the community level roads
and schools were among the casualties; economic - since thousands of
families lost all they had and at the state level, this was the most
developed area; loss of life - human and animal.

Oommen registers his and colleagues' heartfelt appreciation for the work
of the LWS - India in the post-cyclone relief work. He says of the
staff, who themselves were victims of the disaster: "They were there in
all sorts of places, quietly, unobtrusively getting things done." Field
staff moved in from all their other project areas. In addition, there
were volunteers from different churches in Orissa, Bihar, Assam and
Bengal. He points out that before the disaster struck, the program's
Emergency and Relief Unit, was already carrying out work in disaster
management, drinking-water projects and sinking tube-wells.

The CHB team's first posting was Naugaon in Jagatsingpur District, where
they conducted mobile clinics with the LWS local team, covering far
flung villages, which other groups and the government were unlikely to
reach. For four days, they ran clinics in 11 villages, treating 527
patients, 94 of who had dysentery. "Loss of life was less here, but
houses and trees were all gone," Oommen notes and points out that all
three members of the CHB medical team developed diarrhea.

In Ersama, another remote village where the group provided emergency
health care, Oommen singles out one government officer for his exemplary
work as a special relief commissioner, and regrets that the press did
not reveal positive contributions by such people in their reports which
criticized the government overall.

The team moved to another distant village, Ambiki, which could only be
accessed by boat as the roads leading there had been washed away. On the
one-hour-long journey they could see corpses - both human and animal,
mostly caught in the grass that lines the riverbanks. The post-cyclone
effects there were similar to what they had witnessed elsewhere -
flattened kuccha [thatched] houses, and the dead had still not been
removed from some of them.

The medical team gives credit to women representatives of a local non-
governmental organization (NGO), the International Society for Indecency
Prevention, who went to great lengths to assist them. Activities by the
women included putting bleaching powder in wells, cremating corpses,
keeping the surrounding area clean and running a free kitchen, which
provided a midday meal to some 2,000 people daily. Oommen adds, "This
last activity was actually very difficult and commendable, and they put
in lot of work and effort. We are most grateful to them because that
rice and dal (pulse) meal was also our only food each day, and they were
most pleasant and helpful to us. In addition, they also set up a health
clinic each day, distributing medicines to the sick and the needy."

The first patient for the CHB team was a 12-year-old girl, who was
brought in with diarrhea. She was suffering severe dehydration and it
looked distinctly like a case of cholera. While Oommen and his
colleagues attended to her, village youth offered to help. "When they
heard that we were from 'Lutheran' (as the LWS is known in these parts),
they were most enthusiastic, and insisted we put up our banner, because
people of this area all remember what the LWS had done for them in the
last flood," he recalls. As more patients were brought in, the team had
to shift to a nearby abandoned three-roomed house, which was quickly
transformed into a "new ward" by the women from the NGO. Here, the only
way to hook up the intravenous (IV) bottles was to tie them with
strings. The medical team would take turns staying in the ward at night
and seeing outpatients during the day.

By the third day, the road to Ambiki had been repaired and jeeps were
coming through. On the night of 18 November, a group of six interns from
a medical college came in to relieve the CHB team.

Oommen underlines some facts that are not so obvious to people from
outside Orissa, including those who are accustomed to an overview of the
region based on reports about western Orissa - starvation deaths in
Kalahandi, selling children to survive in Bolangir, exotic tribal life
in Koraput and so on.

Orissa, he states, functions like two states, which include the 12
coastal districts on the one hand, and the 18 hill districts on the
other. The coastal population, which was worst hit by the cyclone, is
overall relatively more educated, better off and holds the majority of
positions in the local government. The hill districts, on the other
hand, are huge, in the interior, predominantly tribal, forested and with
a much simpler and more vulnerable life situation. There is also a huge
mental divide between these two parts. That is part of the local
dynamic, which explains part of the political circus that followed the
cyclone. The Chief Minister was from the wrong side, a tribal leader
from the hills, and the whole system would be enraged against him.

Oommen's thoughts on the cyclone are also a tribute to the so many
terrific people, individuals or teams, who were rendering in many ways
relief service, dedicated from the very beginning and kept going for
weeks. Overall, he describes the team's post-cyclone assignment as "good
satisfying work." He adds, "We are grateful for the opportunity we got
to do something worthwhile."

Meanwhile, the pace of relief activities implemented by LWS - India
increased even after the departure of the CHB medical team. According to
Mogens Jeppesen, the director of the LWS - India, more volunteer groups
joined the program's personnel. Just to name a few - the Nirmala Niketan
College Of Social Work in Mumbai, and the Andhra, Jeypore and Northern
Evangelical Lutheran Churches sent people to assist in the post-cyclone
work. In addition, the LWS - India dispatched more personnel with
training in community health care to carry on from where Oommen and his
colleagues had left off.

The relief operation which included distribution of food, clothing and
blankets, temporary shelter kits, water purification and sanitation
materials as well as the sinking of tube wells was, more or less
concluded by mid-February 2000. Jeppesen points out that the teams
continue to work in the villages organizing health education and
awareness campaigns.

Some rehabilitation operations have been initiated in two districts and
plans for several other areas are underway. As a part of the ongoing
Disaster Preparedness Program associated with the rehabilitation
efforts, the LWS - India is also supporting activities to improve on the
capability to cope with such calamities at the community and family
level. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercises have been conducted
with the aim to identify areas and population groups that face the
greatest risk during calamities. Other activities include socio-legal
counseling for the traumatized.

Jeppesen points out that "people have shown remarkable resilience and
the will to overcome all odds." Children are returning to school, even
if the school buildings remain damaged. Economic activities are
generally few because of the devastation, but they are gradually
increasing. He concludes that although the terrible memories of the
cyclone are still fresh, life has to go on and "by and large the
affected population are working to restore a semblance of order in their
lives."

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 59.5 million of the world's 63.1 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision-making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and by its Executive Committee. The LWF
secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

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