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India Cyclones Update: CARE Worker Tells of Death and Devastation
Death toll in India's Orissa state could reach as high as 10,000

Bhubaneshwar, India (November 10, 1999) - In a phone call from Orissa state's capital of Bhubaneshwar, CARE worker Bob LaPrade tells of the specter of death and devastation that has gripped the countryside in the wake of two cyclones.

LaPrade says, "I have never seen so much destruction. There were rotting bodies floating everywhere, as well as hundreds of animal carcasses. The stench was just awful. It is still in my clothes. With the death toll now being reported at 7,500, it would not surprise me if it reached 10,000 as the waters continue to recede."

LaPrade is deputy director of CARE's programs in Asia and Europe. He traveled from CARE's U.S. headquarters in Atlanta to Orissa state to assess first-hand the damage caused by the recent cyclones and to support CARE's ongoing relief activities in the area. His comments follow a day visiting Ersama county in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur, one of the two worst hits districts in the state.

LaPrade notes that "the water is still 3 feet deep in some places and it looks like chemical waste." The influx of saltwater also has had a devastating effect not only on this year's agricultural crop, but also on the ability of the land to produce into the future.

"All food stocks are gone," explains LaPrade, and "the water is so saline that people won't be able to plant. People are talking about abandoning their villages. This close to the coast, they don't think they can grow rice in these fields for another five years."

Whole villages were destroyed by the cyclones, the second of which was similar in strength to Hurricane Andrew, which devastated the U.S. state of Florida in 1992. Waves of between 13 and 20 feet swept inland on the night of October 29.

"One village I saw was completely devastated. Everything had been swept away by huge waves and winds. At least 26 people had been washed away by a wall of water 6 feet high. The houses were gone. Parents who survived did so by holding on to trees and the children clung to the parents. I saw one huge banyan tree about 12 feet in diameter that was ripped from the ground whole."

Despite an extensive relief operation, some survivors continue to await rescue and aid, LaPrade says. "People are huddled together on little islands. Food is being dropped to them by helicopter. There are still about 50,000 people in Ersama county that we cannot reach by land. Each day, the situation gets more desperate for those people who are cut off from receiving supplies, except from air drops."

CARE's Response: In the cyclones' aftermath, CARE has been distributing more than 4,000 metric tons of food, plastic sheeting for use in building temporary shelters, thousands of blankets, three metric tons of candles and 800 bundles of matches. Along with emergency relief operations, CARE also carries out projects in nutrition, health care, small enterprise development and basic and girls' education in India.

Back to Orissa Cyclone Stories