NEW DELHI — A monstrous cyclone has struck India’s eastern coastline and washed away thousands of mud homes, knocked out power and communications, and blocked many of the region’s roads. But the storm also demonstrated how much India has transformed itself in recent years.
The authorities evacuated about 800,000 people, one of the largest such evacuations in India’s history. The storm’s maximum sustained winds, which were approximately 200 kilometers, or 124 miles, per hour, when the storm made landfall about 9 p.m. Saturday, dropped to about 80 kilometers per hour by midafternoon Sunday.
There were scattered reports of deaths that together climbed past 20 by midday Sunday, including five people in the coastal city of Gopalpur. The reports said most died from tree falls in the hours before the storm landed. The cyclone, named Phailin, was expected to drop up to 25 centimeters, or 10 inches, of rain over two days in some areas.
Just 14 years ago, a cyclone in roughly the same place killed more than 10,000 people — another in more than a century of predictably deadly cyclones to roar out of the Bay of Bengal. While an accurate assessment of Phailin’s effects will probably take weeks, there were tentative signs Sunday that the death toll was likely to be relatively modest.
There are many reasons for the change, but a vastly improved communications system is probably the most important. Nearly a billion people routinely use mobile phones in India, up from fewer than 40 million at the turn of the century. Even many of the poorest villages now have televisions, and India’s media market is saturated with 24-hour news channels that have blanketed the nation’s airwaves with coverage of the storm.
Many villagers refused to leave land and livestock during the worst of the storm, according to many reports. But almost none were unaware of the coming danger. And that is a huge change.
Jibanananda Mohanty, a retired veterinary surgeon from Bhubaneshwar in Odisha, said by telephone Sunday that he had spent a harrowing night listening to howling winds and crashing trees outside, and his home remained without electricity and water Sunday. But he had days to store enough water, milk, vegetables and other supplies to carry him through.
“Because of the advanced warning, we were prepared for this situation,” Dr. Mohanty said. “I haven't heard any loss of life in my neighborhood.”
India’s state and central governments spent days preparing for the worst. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement Saturday that he had been briefed on preparations for the storm and had directed that the central government extend all needed assistance to state officials.
Service members from the country’s army, air force and navy were deployed to help in rescue and relief operations, A.K. Antony, India’s defense minister, said.
The air force deployed C-130 aircraft, recently purchased from the United States, to help in the efforts, and the navy had diving teams with inflatable rafts deployed at important locations, Mr. Antony said. Military helicopters were also available for rescues, he said.
Visakhapatnam, which was near the center of the storm, experienced little damage apart from a collapsed seawall in the fishing colony. By 9 a.m., the sun was shining, businesses had opened at their usual times, and traffic had resumed its usual chaos. People emerged from their homes Sunday with a sense of relief and, in some case, an I-knew-it-all-along attitude.
Tousis Ahmed, who is employed in India’s emerging technology industry, stayed out late on Saturday night and even swung by the beach, which had been cordoned off, to check on the ocean.
“The waves were calm. So I went home and had a sound sleep,” Mr. Ahmed, 30, said.
B. Murkandarao, a street fruit vendor, said he stayed open for business Saturday night until his usual hour and was back in business Sunday morning. “They tried to scare us on TV, but I was never worried,” he said.
Indian storm experts may have struck the right note of caution in contrast to those in the United States, where forecasts were far more alarmist than those made in India.
The authorities evacuated about 800,000 people, one of the largest such evacuations in India’s history. The storm’s maximum sustained winds, which were approximately 200 kilometers, or 124 miles, per hour, when the storm made landfall about 9 p.m. Saturday, dropped to about 80 kilometers per hour by midafternoon Sunday.
There were scattered reports of deaths that together climbed past 20 by midday Sunday, including five people in the coastal city of Gopalpur. The reports said most died from tree falls in the hours before the storm landed. The cyclone, named Phailin, was expected to drop up to 25 centimeters, or 10 inches, of rain over two days in some areas.
Just 14 years ago, a cyclone in roughly the same place killed more than 10,000 people — another in more than a century of predictably deadly cyclones to roar out of the Bay of Bengal. While an accurate assessment of Phailin’s effects will probably take weeks, there were tentative signs Sunday that the death toll was likely to be relatively modest.
There are many reasons for the change, but a vastly improved communications system is probably the most important. Nearly a billion people routinely use mobile phones in India, up from fewer than 40 million at the turn of the century. Even many of the poorest villages now have televisions, and India’s media market is saturated with 24-hour news channels that have blanketed the nation’s airwaves with coverage of the storm.
Many villagers refused to leave land and livestock during the worst of the storm, according to many reports. But almost none were unaware of the coming danger. And that is a huge change.
Jibanananda Mohanty, a retired veterinary surgeon from Bhubaneshwar in Odisha, said by telephone Sunday that he had spent a harrowing night listening to howling winds and crashing trees outside, and his home remained without electricity and water Sunday. But he had days to store enough water, milk, vegetables and other supplies to carry him through.
“Because of the advanced warning, we were prepared for this situation,” Dr. Mohanty said. “I haven't heard any loss of life in my neighborhood.”
India’s state and central governments spent days preparing for the worst. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement Saturday that he had been briefed on preparations for the storm and had directed that the central government extend all needed assistance to state officials.
Service members from the country’s army, air force and navy were deployed to help in rescue and relief operations, A.K. Antony, India’s defense minister, said.
The air force deployed C-130 aircraft, recently purchased from the United States, to help in the efforts, and the navy had diving teams with inflatable rafts deployed at important locations, Mr. Antony said. Military helicopters were also available for rescues, he said.
Visakhapatnam, which was near the center of the storm, experienced little damage apart from a collapsed seawall in the fishing colony. By 9 a.m., the sun was shining, businesses had opened at their usual times, and traffic had resumed its usual chaos. People emerged from their homes Sunday with a sense of relief and, in some case, an I-knew-it-all-along attitude.
Tousis Ahmed, who is employed in India’s emerging technology industry, stayed out late on Saturday night and even swung by the beach, which had been cordoned off, to check on the ocean.
“The waves were calm. So I went home and had a sound sleep,” Mr. Ahmed, 30, said.
B. Murkandarao, a street fruit vendor, said he stayed open for business Saturday night until his usual hour and was back in business Sunday morning. “They tried to scare us on TV, but I was never worried,” he said.
Indian storm experts may have struck the right note of caution in contrast to those in the United States, where forecasts were far more alarmist than those made in India.