Weathering the Storm in Ersama

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The super cyclone hit Orissa (now Odisha) in October 1999, specifically on 27 October 1999. It devastated coastal areas including Ersama and surrounding villages.

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Prashant had gone to the block headquarters of Ersama to spend the day with a friend. Ersama was a small town about eighteen kilometers from his village, Kalikuda.

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The cyclone had wind speeds of 350 km per hour. The crazed destruction continued for thirty-six hours, though wind speeds reduced somewhat by the next morning.

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The two coconut trees that fell on the roof provided tender coconuts that kept the trapped family from starving during the several days they were stranded on the rooftop.

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In the grey morning light, Prashant saw a raging, deadly, brown sheet of water covering everything. Only fractured cement houses remained standing. Bloated animal carcasses and human corpses floated e…

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Prashant equipped himself with a long, sturdy stick, which he used to locate the road and determine where the water was most shallow during his journey through the flood waters.

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Prashant had to push away many human bodies (men, women, children) and carcasses of dogs, goats, and cattle. In every village, barely a house was standing. The scenes were increasingly macabre as he p…

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Prashant found his family at the Red Cross shelter. The first person he saw was his maternal grandmother, who was weak with hunger but rushed to him with outstretched hands and brimming eyes.