Thread by @SadaaShree

Odisha was devastated by a super cyclone on this date in 1999, that left close to 20k dead, massive losses to property, people homeless, whole villages washed away by the raging sea waters. A terrible tragedy in so many ways.
#LestWeForgetIndia

Considered one of the most severe cyclones of the 20th century, as Odisha's coastal districts of Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Kendrapada, Puri, Jajpur were hit badly, along with Mayurbhanj, Keonjarh, Nayagarh and Dhenkanal.

Jagatsinghpur was the worst hit district, with 8000 fatalities, the two blocks of Erasma,Kujang accounting for most of the destruction. The next largest number of fatalities were in Puri, Kendrapada and Cuttack.

Bhubaneshwar was hit badly, with power, telecommunication links cut off, the city was thrown into darkness, trees uprooted. Paradip Port too was badly hit, with most of the warehouses, transmission systems badly damaged.

Many coastal villages were washed away by the raging sea waves,some of the fishing trawlers were lifted inland and deposited there. Road to Paradip was lined with sand dunes. Heritage site of Konark was flooded for 6 days.

Congress Govt then in Odisha completely messed up the relief operations, most of the ministers and MLAs were missing, there is a good reason why Congress has been out of power since last 2 decades in the state.

Even worse were the NGOs most of whom made a fortune out of the devastation, by claiming to work for relief. While aid never really reached the affected, most of those who worked in these foreign NGOs, made a good amount of money.

Most of these NGO activists in Odisha, ensured they bought nice homes and cars for themselves in Bhubaneshwar. And ever since then they have been making a nice fortune, while keeping the state perenially backward.

In a way this devastating super cyclone helped Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, to come up with better cyclone warning systems, relief, evacuation measures, that has helped them handle more intense storms later on.