Many years have passed since that dreadful day but the nightmares of that whirlwind disaster still haunt the people of Orissa. On 29th October 1999 , Orissa experienced its worst ever natural disaster in terms of human and public asset loss. Winds of between 250 to 300 km/hr, heavy rains and waves between 13 and 20 feet high accompanied the storm. The dreadful cyclone engulfed one-third part of the state (Population of 1.25 crore). The cyclone resulted in the death of an estimated 40,000 people, however, as per Government estimates the death toll is a little less than 10,000 people, and injury to many thousands.

The damage caused was threefold: physical impact by strong winds resulting storm surge and flash floods and saline inundation. More than 400,000 livestock animals perished according to the official estimates, but some accounts talk of as many as 500,000 animals or 90% of the livestock in the affected area. This has significantly harmed household economy, agriculture (lack of fertiliser and draught power) and fuel situation (loss of cow dung for cooking). Poultry farming suffered a loss of around 400 million rupees due to destruction of birds, hatcheries, feed mills and sheds. It not only destroyed the standing crops but also the agricultural land. Communication through rail and road were affected telecommunication and electric supply were damaged to a large extent. Millions of plants and trees were uprooted or destroyed and the ecosystem was badly affected. The total loss is estimated to be around 20 billion rupees.

Those who managed to survive the immediate impact of cyclones had to face the aftermath. Growing food insecurity and reduced purchasing power resulted in malnutrition and anaemia. Contamination of water threatened water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea and dysentery with a potential for cholera and hepatitis outbreaks. Nearly 80,000 cases of diarrhoea including 70 deaths were reported at the end of November. Similarly, there was an increased potential for outbreaks of vector-borne diseases. Post-traumatic stress syndrome and other mental problems created by the shock of losing family members were also a significant health issue. As custodians of landed property, the loss of agricultural crop, houses and assets had a deep impact on the psyche of older persons. Older persons, in India and particularly in Orissa, believe in sharing their food and essential items in times of need and calamity. This often increases their vulnerability in times of disasters. HelpAge India , at this time of adversity came to their rescue and decided to support the families of older persons with relief items immediately and adopted a comprehensive relief and rehabilitation programme. Our advocacy and representational role in different forums sensitised the Government, International NGOs, Grassroot level organisations and Communities towards the needs and vulnerability of older persons in emergencies. With financial support from DEC, HelpAge India embarked on its journey to support and restore dignity in the cyclone struck lives of thousands of elderly persons in Orissa.

Immediate Concerns
+ Extensive damage caused to housing stock
+ Roofless, landless labourers and marginal peasants with no means of survival
+ Extensive loss of livestock and draught animals that severely affected the productive capacity and sustainability of the people
+ Restoration and rehabilitation of fishing community, which suffered the worst in the coastal areas losing their houses, boats and fishing nets
+ Severe damage to more than 80% of the forest-cover

Objectives
+ To alleviate suffering and save lives in the aftermath of cyclone in Orissa
+ To reduce the risk of illness and death amongst the families of 5,000 older persons in the cyclone affected districts of Orissa
+ To provide older persons in the disaster affected areas with specialised emergency medical treatment
+ To provide targeted feeding to older persons so as to increase their food security status
+ To repair 4100 traditional houses damaged by the cyclone
+ To provide 4100 older persons household items of daily need
+ To increase the effectiveness of humanitarian aid activities in addressing the specific needs of older persons

Relief and Rehabilitation Programmes

MMU's (Mobile Medicare Units)
HelpAge India was one of first agencies to extend its support to the cyclone victims. We launched two MMUs in Orissa immediately after the cyclone These MMUs provided much needed relief and medical attention to the diseased. The two medical units were brought in from Calcutta and Delhi . The HelpAge India's MMU provided medicines to more than 3,000 persons and distributed 1,00,000 halogen tablets. As a result of the combined effort of various agencies, only negigible casualties were reported after the cyclone.

Repairing Damaged Houses
Nearly 1.85 million houses were partially or fully damaged by the cyclone. The pattern of houses (thatched roofs with mud walls) exposed their vulnerability when confronted with consecutive flow of rain and flood water. This wasn't the halt; it brought a colossal loss of crops and cattle which added more pain to their agony. Financial assistance of Rs. 2000 did not suffice the needs of the people and were left in a state of wanting as far as house repairing was concerned. The partners of HelpAge India decided to support the victims with skilled labour and materials like bamboo, straw, rope, poles etc. to the repair their damaged houses, all 4100 beneficiaries completed their house- repairing target by the end of the programme.

Relief to Fishermen
Fishermen were the worst hit by this catastrophe being closest to the coast line. They suffered severe losses on account of their private assets and lives. They were left in a destitute state with no hope. HelpAge India took upon itself to restore faith in them and organized rehabilitation programmes for them. HelpAge India distributed fishing boats and nets to the most down trodden and revived their hopes of a better future.

Achievements

Food Security:
Feeding programme as targeted for 5000 people was successfully achieved. This, as per the analyses available, provided them a net saving of approximately Rs. 3000 from their family incomes, which they recycled to a certain extent.

Cohesion of Families:
There were a lot of instances of abandonment of older people by their families. In such testing environments it was difficult to point fingers. HelpAge India in its endeavour to rehabilitate older people provided them with sufficient support, which resulted in reunion of families.

Raising awareness amongst International and National NGOs:
One of the major achievements was to advocate for the cause and care of the older persons in adverse circumstances. The greatest impact of the programme was that it could sensitise the government, international aid agencies, UN and the local NGOs to include more programmes. The partner agencies avowed the various trainings, interaction, joint planning, meetings and the logistical support which was provided to them by HelpAge India . It has opened new directions for them and has greatly enhanced their capacity for future disaster management.

Looking Forward
One of the major lessons learnt out of this disaster was that the State of Orissa needs a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan, which can minimize the loss. Though certain DEC members and UN system have come forward to prepare comprehensive plan of action for the community, HelpAge India being the only agency working for the old people has taken the onus to come forward with village level contingency plans focusing on the needs of the older people in emergencies.

Orissa being very close to Bay of Bengal faces the vagaries of nature every year. The super cyclone in 1999 is still alive in the memory of thousands of people who survived the disaster. It was realised that the extent of damage to life and property could have been much less if there was sufficient preparedness by the communities and local agencies.

A project intervention has been designed to form and strengthen people's organizations for enhancing their capacity to cope up with the effects of disaster and at the same time enhance the awareness among the Government and other statutory bodies about the vulnerability of the older persons during the disaster.

The proposed programme is designed to initiate preparation of community contingency plan of action in 20 villages of the two cyclone affected districts. The plan would be prepared in five stages- situational analysis, resource mapping, hazard mapping, risk mapping and opportunity mapping. All these PRA exercises have to be done with the active involvement of the community, the older people, local panchayti raj institutions and the local administrators. Four implementing agencies would be involved in this exercise and this would be conducted in those areas where our earlier programme has been implemented. Specific emphasis would be given on the vulnerability of the older person during the disasters and specific task force should be identified for the rescue of this section of the society.

A user friendly guidebook is to be developed after these exercises and particular care should be taken so that the task force or the older persons groups use the manual frequently. The manual is to be widely circulated among the other stakeholders and government departments so as to advocate for the older people to be considered as the most vulnerable group during emergencies.

Statistics are dumb when it comes to human suffering. No figure can express what it feels like to see your loved ones die. The survivors are left with innumerable sad stories to tell, constantly haunted by ghoulish images.