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Cyclone Hudhud and its Management

An Introspection

By

Prof. S. Rama Krishna Rao

Prof. E.U.B. Reddi Prof. K. Kameswara Rao Prof. P.S. Rajasekhar

Prof. T. Byragi Reddy Prof. P.V.V. Prasada Rao Prof. A.J. Solomon Raju

Sponsored by

GoI-UNDP Climate Risk (Disaster) Management Project

Department of Environmental Sciences,

Andhra University

Visakhapatnam, India

2015

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Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to Prof. G.S.N. Raju, Vice Chancellor of Andhra

University and Prof. V. Uma Maheswara Rao, Registrar, Andhra University for their

encouragement and cooperation.

We thank Dr. N. Yuva Raj, I.A.S, District Collector, Visakhapatnam, Mr.

Pravin Kumar, I.A.S, Commissioner, GVMC Government officials and the noble

community for their help and cooperation during the data collection and preparation

of the report.

We thank the Mr. G. Padmanabhan, Emergency Analyst, Disaster

Management Unit, UNDP, New Delhi, Ms. Abha Mishra, National Project

Coordinator, UNDP, New Delhi and Mr. Nagendra Kumar Biyani, State Project

Officer, Andhra Pradesh and Mr. Abdul Sattar, CPC, Vijayawada for their support

and guidance for successful completion of this report.

Prof. S. Rama Krishna Rao & Team

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Team members

Prof. S. Ramakrishna Rao, Civil Engineering (Coordinator)

Prof. E.U.B.Reddi, Environmental Sciences, Andhra University

Prof. K. Kameswara Rao, Environmental Sciences, Andhra University

Prof. P.S. Rajasekhar, Environmental Sciences, Andhra University

Prof. P.V.V. Prasada Rao, Environmental Sciences, Andhra University

Prof. T.Byragi Reddy, Environmental Sciences, Andhra University

Prof. A.J. Solman Raju, Environmental Sciences, Andhra University

Prof. S. Bala Prasad, Civil Engineering, Andhra University

Prof. R. Satya Raju, Commerce & Management Studies, Andhra University

Dr. P. Sudheer Kumar, Architecture & Planning, Andhra University

Dr. D. Mukund, Dept. of Civil Engineering, GITAM University

Dr. Biswanath Dash, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai

Mr. Sk. Abdul Sattar, UNDP-GoI Project, Vijayawada

Dr. N. Srinivasa Rajamani, UNDP-GoI Project, Visakhapatnam

Mr. P. Eswara Rao, Environmental Sciences, Andhra University

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Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 5

1.1 Cyclone Hudhud & Visakhapatnam

1.2 Cyclone Hudhud – Origin, development, landfall & salient features

1.3 Description of the study area

1.4 Work carried out under case study

Chapter 2: Pre-disaster activities – Detection & Preparedness 11

2.1 Monitoring & prediction of cyclone

2.2 Actions taken by government

2.2.1 Early warning system & information dissemination

2.2.2 Preparatory action of the State Government & District Administration

2.2.3 Risk Prevention & mitigation activities

2.3 Community awareness and support

Chapter 3: Cyclone - Intensity, Impact & Government Response 19

3.1 Intensity of cyclone Hudhud

3.2 Impact of cyclone Hudhud

3.3 Response activities by government authorities

Chapter 4: After disaster – Relief to Recovery 25

4.1 Relief operations

4.2 Restoration activities

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations 33

Annexure(s) 36

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Cyclone Hudhud & Visakhapatnam

1.2 Cyclone Hudhud – Origin, development, landfall & salient features

1.3 Description of the study area

1.4 Work carried out under case study

1.1 Cyclone Hudhud & Visakhapatnam

The cyclone Hudhud - land fall took place near Visakhapatnam on 12th

October 2014

with a wind speed of >220 kmph, was the strongest and most destructive ‘tropical severe

cyclonic storm’ to ever hit any Indian city. The cyclone has affected 320 villages across 44

sub-districts in Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, East Godavari districts of

Andhra Pradesh state and some rural pockets in four districts of south Odisha state in India.

The city of Visakhapatnam was heavily damaged, including the airport, a number of

buildings, electrical and telecommunication systems, port installations, industrial structures,

roads and green cover. Similarly districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram

have encountered damages to infrastructure, communications, kutcha houses and livelihoods.

The cyclone Hudhud landed exactly one year after cyclone Phailin, which affected Odisha

and caused heavy damages and subsequent flooding.

Many times cyclones that came towards Visakhapatnam has changed their direction

few hours before the land fall and created a belief that Visakhapatnam is a safe coastal city

w.r.t cyclone. But, the Hudhud cyclone proved that Visakhapatnam is not an exception to

cyclonic path and its impact. It was not only a disaster for the community at large but also

worked as an awakening incident to government officials and community to invest in

preparedness and mitigation.

The preparedness and response action taken by government and district

administration, before and during the Hudhud cyclone incident have minimized the damage

to the property and possible human loss. Similarly the actions taken after the incident have

paved a way for early restoration of normal life in the Visakhapatnam city and in other

affected areas. Hudhud cyclone is first of its kind in the region and somewhat different from

other cyclones. Andhra Pradesh, without having rich experience of severe cyclone disasters in

recent times, has managed well the Hudhud incident, in spite of its capacity to be a major

disaster with respect to human loss.

The intense follow up by local Government administration after communication on

early warning issued by Indian Meteorological Department & NASA, which has alerted both

the States administration [Andhra Pradesh & Odisha] results reduction of major loss of life,

by evacuation of vulnerable population from Cyclone affected areas. The commendable

services extended by Districts administration in preparedness and even some places forceful

evacuation of civilians by local police was a remarkable event. The regulation of traffic on

the previous day of the hudhud on the national highway and passing of the information to the

nook and corners of the mandals has saved lot of loss of life including that of the animals.

The disconnection of power on the night previous to the storm till the passing off has also

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saved the life of stray animals and birds. All said and done the measures taken by the Andhra

Pradesh state government under the leadership of Shri. N. Chandra Babu Naidu and his

council of ministers are most appreciable apprehending the major disaster and preventing the

colossal damage to the minimum possible extent. The rehabilitation of the people and

resumption of services of different sectors after the disaster is the untiring efforts of the

administration and local elected representatives taking the reviews from the honourable chief

minister who was guiding force, is much laudable.

Indian sub-continent is vulnerable to various natural disasters which need attention

from government to minimize losses and damages. Coming to East coast of India, this part of

the country is much vulnerable to tropical cyclones. Comparing to previous worst cyclone

disasters, during Hudhud cyclone the human loss is minimized and restoration to normal life

has taken place very fast but heavy economic loss was incurred. It is important to document

the best practices and lessons learned from Hudhud cyclone, to give some insight to

government authorities who would use it to plan well for future cyclones and bring

improvements in disaster management system.

Objectives of the study

This case study is conducted to document the best practices followed, cyclone

operations/ experiences and lessons learnt by government authorities and community, so that

in future the cyclone management can easily be tackled.

The objective of the study is:

To assess the community preparedness and response to withstand the recent disaster

in Andhra Pradesh, namely “Cyclone Hudhud” and to identify gaps and challenges in

light of the vulnerability status of the communities.

To evaluate the role of state level institutions during the Cyclone Hudhud and advise

strategy for further strengthening the linkages and coordination with communities for

better preparedness and response in future disasters.

To outline a resilient building approach of the community to be followed in the state.

Methodology of the case study

The case study was conducted with a team of professors, disaster management

experts, government officials involved during Hudhud operations and stakeholders. Data

collected from government officials and community by conducting consultation

meetings/FGDs. The collected data has been analyzed and a draft report was prepared and

submitted for review of experts.

1.2 Hudhud – Origin, development, landfall & salient features

The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Hudhud’ (07-14 Oct. 2014) developed from a low

pressure area which lay over Tenasserim coast and adjoining North Andaman Sea in the

morning of 6th Oct. 2014. It was concentrated into a Depression in the morning of the 7th

Oct. over the North Andaman Sea. Moving west-northwestwards it intensified into a Cyclonic

Storm (CS) in the morning of 8th Oct. and crossed Andaman Islands close to Long Island

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between 0830 and 0930 hrs IST of 8th October. It then emerged into Southeast Bay of Bengal

and continued to move west-northwestwards. It intensified into a Severe Cyclonic Storm

(SCS) in the morning of 09th October and further into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (VSCS)

in the afternoon of 10th October. It continued to intensify while moving northwestwards and

reached maximum intensity in the early morning of 12th

with a maximum sustained wind

speed (MSW) of 180 kmph over the West Central Bay of Bengal off Andhra Pradesh coast. It

crossed north Andhra Pradesh coast over Visakhapatnam (VSK) between 1200 and 1300 hrs

IST of 12th October with the same wind speed. After landfall, it continued to move

northwestwards for some time and weakened gradually into SCS in the evening and further

into a CS in the same midnight. It then, weakened further into a Deep Depression in the early

morning of 13th and weakened into a depression in the evening of 13th. Thereafter, it moved

nearly northward and weakened into a well-marked low pressure area over East Uttar Pradesh

and neighborhood in the evening of 14th October 2014. (IMD, India)

The salient features of Hudhud Cyclone are as follows:

i. Hudhud is the first cyclone that crossed Visakhapatnam coast in the month of

Oct., after 1985 and it made landfall on the same day as VSCS Phailin did in

2013 at Odisha state, India.

ii. At the time of landfall on 12th October the estimated maximum sustained surface wind

speed in association with the cyclone was about 100 Knots.

iii. The estimated central pressure was 950 hPa with a pressure drop of 54 hPa at the

centre compared to surroundings.

iv. It caused very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over North Andhra Pradesh and

South Odisha and strong gale winds leading to large scale structural damage over North

Andhra Pradesh and adjoining districts of South Odisha and storm surge over North

Andhra Pradesh.coast Maximum 24 hour cumulative rainfall of 38 cm ending at 0830 hrs

IST of 13th

October was reported from Gantyada (dist Vizianagaram) in Andhra Pradesh.

v. Maximum of storm surge of 1.4 meters above the astronomical tide has been reported

by the tide gauge at Visakhapatnam.

vi. The numerical weather prediction (NWP) and dynamical statistical models provided

good guidance with respect to its genesis, track and intensity. Though there was

divergence in model guidance with respect to landfall point and time in the initial stage,

the consensus among the models emerged as the cyclone moved closer to the coast.

viii. India Meteorological Department (IMD) accurately predicted the genesis, intensity,

track and point & time of landfall and also the adverse weather like heavy rainfall, gale

wind and storm surge 4-5 days in advance. (IMD, India)

1.3 Description of the study area

Visakhapatnam situated in east coast of India, is a fast developing coastal city,

administrative headquarters of the district and largest urban agglomeration in Andhra Pradesh

state, India. Originally, the city was a small fishing village. But because of industrialization

and urban attractions, in recent years, there has been a spurt in investments in the city giving

further impetus to transform the city as a future mega city.

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In Physiographic setting, the City stretches North to South on a reach and is like a

bowl shaped basin surrounded by hilly regions covered by the Eastern Ghats on three sides,

with Bay of Bengal on the Eastern side. The city’s area extent can be divided into four

physiographic divisions: Hill ranges, Hill slopes, Central plain area and Coastal zone. The

entire city lies within two prominent hill ranges, Yarada and Adivivaram with a height of 500

mts above MSL. The central plain area is occupied by a marsh. The plain zone is connected

to sea through Naravagedda flowing from above till it touches the marshy zone. The

elevations in the marshy area vary between 1mt and 4 mts above MSL. The coastal zone of

Visakhapatnam is very narrow with widths varying from 30 – 100 mts and rises to 5 – 10 mts

above MSL. The city has a long coastline with the beach front providing for recreation and

relief to the city populations for summer heat and high humidity. There are vast recreational

areas like parks, amusement parks, hotels and commercial complexes. A number of high

raised buildings have come up on landward side of the road on the beach front. The main

surface sources of water for the city of Visakhapatnam are various reservoirs.

Coming to climate, the city area falls under semi-arid type of climate with no

appreciable seasonal fluctuations. Owing to its proximity to the sea with the attendant high

humidity in the atmosphere, the fluctuations in temperature are fairly uniform except during

the dry months when the rise in temperature is higher than it is during the monsoon period.

From February onwards, the temperature rises progressively till May, which is the hottest

month. During the years 1931 – 1960’ the mean maximum temperature was 340C. This has

been showing an upward trend with the mean maximum temperature for the period 1975 –

2005 being reported as 380 C. The mean minimum temperature reported during 1931- 1960 is

250 C and that during 1975 –2005 is 29

0C. In recent years, it is not uncommon for the day

temperature to exceed 430 C during May (summer). In winter season (December – January

period) the mean maximum temperature during 1931- ’60 was 270 C while it was 32

oc during

1975 – 2005. The mean minimum temperatures during the corresponding periods were 160C

and 200C respectively. The significant upward trend in the mean temperatures may be an

indication of the effect of industrialization, denudation of green cover and global climatic

changes. May is the hottest month with an average maximum temperature of about 36°C; and

January is the coolest month with an average maximum temperature of about 29°C. In the

Bay of Bengal, depressions are likely to be encountered in all seasons of the year with a

gradual fall in pressure. On an average 4 to 5 cyclones per year occur. Waves of over 1.5 mt.

in the height may be expected approximately 14% of the time. The daily record of tidal

levels shows two highs and two lows.

The city with ~ 18 Lakhs population and ~620 sq.kms area is divided into 8 zones and

83 wards by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC). The

Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) has a jurisdiction of 1721 sq.kms

and covers a population of 22 lakhs, comprising part of Visakhapatnam district (1418.10 sq.

km) and part of Vizianagaram district (302.90 sq. km) (Master plan for Visakhapatnam

Metropolitan Region Perspective-2021, 2003).

A key feature of population growth in Visakhapatnam is that the people living in

surrounding areas, especially from the nearby districts are migrating in search of livelihoods

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owing to rapid fast growth of industrialisation to the city. At present in Visakhapatnam there

are total number of 427 industries in which 48 are green category, 210 are orange category

and 169 are red category industries existed. Visakhapatnam city is characterized by a very

significant presence of the urban poor, with a growing poverty profile. At present there are

472 slums and the slum population is over 6 lakhs.

In the district of Visakhapatnam sufficient forest cover can be seen in the Eastern

Ghats, which are the important biodiversity rich places. As most of the city area comes under

industrial zone the vegetation mostly comprises of plantations and the vegetation found on

the hills. Most of the hills the predominant vegetation is shrub jungle type. Along the shore in

very limited region mangroves can be seen. Beach vegetation in the city area is in decreasing

trend. The city is vulnerable to key hazards namely – cyclones, tsunami, industrial accidents

and epidemics.

Work carried out under case study

- Started case study work in Andhra University, Visakhapatnam by forming a team.

- The concept note cum plan of work was finalized after consultation with UNDP.

- Conducted field works at Visakhapatnam and collected data from various sources

including government officials and community in Visakhapatnam.

- Community field visits, consultations and Focus Group Discussions were

conducted at fishermen villages, slums, urban residential areas and other

town/villages which were affected during the cyclone.

The coastal fishermen areas covered are Peda Waltair Jalaripeta, Jalari

Yandada, Vasavani Palem, Jodugullapalem, Rushikonda,

Managamaripeta, Uppada, Bhimili (Bhimunipatnam), Kotta Jalaripeta,

Fishing Harbour, Gangavaram Jalaripeta (Yarada), Appikonda,

Mutyalammapalem and Pudimadaka.

Residential areas covered are Peda Waltair, China Waltair,

Simhachalam, Murali nagar, Gajuwaka, Yendada, Madhurawada,

Anandapuram, Sagar nagar, M.V.P. Colony, H.B. Colony,

Kailashpuram, Sheela Nagar, Siripuaram, Purna Market, Thomson

Street, Kota veedhi, Town Hall, Relli Veedi, Yarada, Bhimili, R.K.

Beach, Lawsons Bay Colony, Parawada, Ukkunagaram etc.

Other areas covered are Araku, Dumbiriguda, Narasipatnam,

Vijayanagaram, Srikakulam, Paderu etc.

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- A consultation meeting to document the Hudhud cyclone experiences was held on

26th

June 2015 at Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) with

city administration officials who were involved in Hudhud cyclone operations.

Additional Commissioner (General), Dy. Commissioner (Revenue), Zonal

Commissioners, Chief City Planner, Executive Engineers, Assistant Engineers,

Medical/Public Health officers etc participated in the meeting.

A questionnaire developed was circulated seeking information from the

participants. The format is given in the annexure II.

- Discussions made with Officials of IMD, NDRF, Fire Service, major industries,

District Administrations of Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam on Hudhud cyclone

experiences and management.

- Collected secondary data, videos, news paper articles, district reports,

photographs.

- Carried out review of literature, collected primary data and reports.

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Chapter 2: Pre-disaster activities – Detection & Preparedness

2.1 Monitoring & prediction of cyclone

2.2 Actions taken by government

2.2.1 Early warning system & information dissemination

2.2.2 Preparatory action of the State Government & District

Administration

2.2.3 Risk Prevention & mitigation activities

2.3 Community awareness and support

2.1 Monitoring & Prediction of cyclone (by IMD, India)

The VSCS Hudhud was predicted & monitored continuously since its inception by the

IMD. The forecast of its genesis on 7th Oct., its track, intensity, point & time of landfall, as

well as associated adverse weather like heavy rain, gale wind & storm surge were predicted

exceedingly well with sufficient lead time which helped the disaster managers to maximize

the management of cyclone in an exemplary manner. (IMD, India)

At the genesis stage, the system was monitored mainly with satellite observations,

supported by meteorological buoys and coastal and island observations. As the system

entered into the east central Bay of Bengal moving away from Andaman & Nicobar Islands,

it was mainly monitored by satellite observations supported by buoys. From 11th Oct. early

morning, as the system lay within the range of the Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at

Visakhapatnam, continuous monitoring by this radar started from 0330 hrs IST of 11th Oct.

when the system was at about 350 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam coast and continued

till 1020 hrs IST of 12th Oct. when the DWR Visakhapatnam products were not accessible

due to disruption of telecommunication in association with the wall cloud region entering into

North Andhra Pradesh. In addition, the observations from satellite and coastal observations,

conventional observatories and Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) were used. While coastal

surface observations were taken on hourly basis, the half hourly INSAT/ Kalpana imageries

and every 10 minute DWR imageries, available microwave imageries and scatterometry

products were used for monitoring of cyclone Hudhud. DWR Machilipatnam was also

utilized for monitoring this system when VSCS Hudhud was lying close to the

Visakhapatnam coast on 12th Oct. (IMD, India)

Various national and international Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models and

dynamical-statistical models including IMD’s and NCMRWF’s global and mesoscale

models, dynamical statistical models for genesis and intensity were utilized to predict the

genesis, track and intensity of the storm. Tropical Cyclone Module, the digitized forecasting

system of IMD was utilized for analysis and comparison of various models guidance,

decision making process and warning product generation. (IMD, India)

Major initiatives during VSCS Hudhud

Following are the major initiatives taken by IMD for monitoring, prediction and

warning services of VSCS Hudhud.

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(i) Observations:

The products of INSAT-3D satellite were fully utilized for the first time with the

development of new products like enhanced IR imageries and colored enhanced

imageries and were made available through an exclusive page for cyclone images in

IMD website (www.imd.gov.in). The satellite data was also ingested in model runs at

NCMRWF.

All the existing High Wind Speed Recorders (HWSR) were made operational around

the path of cyclone Hudhud. 1-min wind data from HWSR were recorded along with

1 second peak gust.

(ii) Monitoring and analysis:

In addition to existing 3 hourly monitoring, hourly monitoring and analysis was

carried out on the date of landfall.

(iii) Prediction Technique:

During VSCS Hudhud, Hurricane Weather Research Forecast (HWRF) model was

run by IMD and IIT Delhi with 27/9/3 km resolution based on 00 and 12 UTC

observations and products were made available to Cyclone Warning Division.

(iv) Operational Forecasting:

Hourly updates on the movement and intensity of VSCS Hudhud were made available

to the National and State level disaster managers and media persons on the day of

landfall from 0530 hrs IST of 12th till landfall.

(v) Warning bulletins and Products:

In view of the improvements in operational track forecast during last five years, the

cone of uncertainty has been reduced by about 20-32 % for 24-120 hr forecast period

w.e.f. VSCS Hudhud. The new radii of cone of uncertainty are 120, 200, 270, 320 and

360 km for 24-, 48-, 72-, 96- and 120- hrs respectively.

Landfall point and time

The place and time of landfall was determined through monitoring of hourly

observations from the coastal stations. The veering of wind over Visakhapatnam and backing

of wind over Tuni along with the lowest pressure and maximum sustained surface wind over

Visakhapatnam clearly suggested the landfall over Visakhapatnam between 1200 and 1300

hrs IST of 12th Oct. Similar was the case considering the landfall near Long Island on 8th

Oct. between 0830 and 0930 hrs IST of 8th Oct. 2014 as Long Island reported lowest mean

sea level pressure and veering of wind. (IMD, India)

Maximum Sustained Surface Wind speed (MSW) and estimated central pressure at the

time of landfall:

The MSW in association with a cyclone affecting Indian coasts is defined as the

average surface wind speed over a period of 3 minutes measured at a height of 10 meters. The

MSW is either estimated by the remotely sensed observations or recorded by the surface

based instruments. As the VSCS, Hudhud crossed Andhra Pradesh coast over

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Visakhapatnam, the MSW in its association at the time of landfall has been observed and

recorded by the High Wind Speed Recorder (HWSR) located at the Cyclone Warning Centre

(CWC), (IMD), Visakhapatnam. It has also been observed by an Automatic Weather Station

(AWS) installed in a ship located near Visakhapatnam port by the Indian National Centre for

Ocean Information System (INCOIS), Hyderabad.

The Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) of IMD at Kailasagiri, Visakhapatnam also

continuously monitored the VSCS, Hudhud and measured the MSW in terms of radial

velocity. Based on satellite imagery, an empirical technique known as the Dvorak technique

is utilized worldwide to estimate the intensity of cyclone and hence the associated MSW.

Further, the IMD observatory at the CWC, VSK continuously monitored the Mean Sea Level

Pressure (MSLP) during the landfall of cyclone, Hudhud. Based on the observation of the

pressure drop at the centre, MSW can also be estimated using the empirical pressure-wind

relationship (MSW= 14.2* √ pressure drop at the centre). These are the basic standard

methods used worldwide to estimate the MSW or intensity of the cyclone. (IMD, India)

Estimated central pressure of VSCS, Hudhud

As a result, 24-hour pressure fall ending at 0600 UTC of 12th was 45 hPa and the

lowest pressure was 950.3 hPa as recorded at 0700 UTC over Visakhapatnam (time of

landfall). Thereafter the pressure rose sharply as the VSCS crossed coast and filled in due to

increase in surface pressure and cut off from moisture supply. (IMD, India)

Storm surge forecast

The storm surge models of INCOIS and IIT, Delhi provided prediction of storm surge

of 1-2.5 meters. Maximum Storm Surge forecast by INCOIS model based on 11th October

2014, 1430 IST data was 2.5 m at Chepaluppada, Bheemunipatnam mandal and

Visakhapatnam district of North Andhra Pradesh. Storm surge predicted for Visakhapatnam

city was 1.6 m. Based on 12th October, 1130 IST conditions, IIT Delhi model predicted 2.1

m at 17.65°N, 83.50°E. (IMD, India)

2.2 Actions taken by government

2.2.1 Early warning system & information dissemination

Warning Dissemination:

During VSCS Hudhud Agricultural Meteorology Division, IMD, Pune in coordination

with Agromet Field Units and Cyclone Warning Division, IMD, New Delhi

disseminated Alert and Agromet Advisory in the affected districts of Andhra Pradesh,

Odisha from 9th October onwards and for the states of Telangana, Bihar, Chattisgarh,

Jharkhand, East Uttar Pradesh, East Madhya Pradesh and Gangetic West Bengal from

11th onwards. Overall 1,91,4872 SMSs were sent to the farmers and local people of

affected states.

INCOIS, Hyderabad disseminated warnings through SMS and Electronic Display

Boards (EDB) to coastal population especially meant for fishermen. Cyclone

Warnings issued by IMD were also incorporated in the bulletins issued by INCOIS.

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SMS to Disaster Managers at National level and up to District Collector level

A new dedicated website for cyclone (www.rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in) has been

developed and was fully operational during VSCS Hudhud.

The Direct to Home (DTH) service through cable service operators has been installed

at 178 places out of proposed 500 stations for cyclone warning communication in the

coastal regions.

Internet Lease Line Bandwidth was upgraded from 60mpbs to 100 mpbs during the

cyclonic storm ‘Hudhud’ failure-free accessibility of IMD website. (IMD, India)

Bulletins issued by IMD

IMD continuously monitored, predicted and issued bulletins containing track &

intensity forecast at +06, +12, +18, +24, +36, +48, +60, +72, +84, +96, +108 and +120 hrs or

till the system weakened into a low pressure area. The above structured track and intensity

forecasts were issued from the stage of deep depression onwards. The cone of uncertainty in

the track forecast was also given for all cyclones. The radius of maximum wind and radius of

≥ 28 knots, ≥34 knots, ≥50 knots and ≥64 knots wind in four quadrants of cyclone was also

issued for every six hours. The graphical display of the observed and forecast track with cone

of uncertainty and the wind forecast for different quadrants were uploaded in the RSMC,

New Delhi website (http://rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in/) regularly. The storm surge forecast was

given based on INCOIS and IIT, Delhi model. The prognostics and diagnostics of the systems

were described in the RSMC bulletins and tropical cyclone advisory bulletins. The TCAC

bulletin was also sent to Asian Disaster Risk Reduction (ADRR) centre of WMO at

Honkong. Tropical cyclone vitals were prepared every six hourly from deep depression stage

onwards to various NWP modeling groups in India for bogusing purpose. (IMD, India)

Operational Forecast Performance (IMD, India)

Following are the salient features of the bulletins issued by IMD.

(i) 6th October (morning): Forecast for intensification of low into depression by 7th

Oct over Andaman Sea and subsequently into a cyclonic storm on 8th Oct near Andaman

Islands.

(ii) 7th October (morning): Depression formed in the morning of 7th Oct. over north

Andaman Sea and regular special bulletin commenced. Forecast was issued for further

intensification into a deep depression within 24 hours and further into a cyclonic storm on 8th

October and to cross Andaman & Nicobar Islands close to Long Island by 8th forenoon. It

was further predicted that it would intensify further and move towards north Andhra Pradesh-

Odisha coast during subsequent 72 hrs.

(iii) 7th October (evening): With the formation of deep depression, it was predicted in the

evening of 7th October that it would become VSCS and cross between Visakhapatnam and

Gopalpur coast a s depicted in the track forecast graph maximum wind speed of 130 to

140kmph gusting to 155kmph would prevail along and off across Andhra Pradesh coast on

12th October.

(iv) 8th October (morning): Forecast was issued for Cyclonic Storm to intensify further to a

severe cyclonic storm by 9th and further into a VSCS by 10th evening. Further it was stated

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that it would cross north coastal Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coast between

Visakhapatnam and Gopalpur around noon of 12th

October with wind speed of 130 to 140

gusting to 155kmph. However, in the track forecast graphics, the landfall was indicated to be

near Visakhapatnam.

(v) 9th October morning: It was predicted that cyclone would cross north Andhra Pradesh

coast around Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of 12th October.

(vi) 10th evening: Further intensification of the system with MSW of 140-150 kmph gusting

to 165 kmph by 11th evening, was predicted. Further it was stated that it would cross north

Andhra Pradesh coast around Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of 12th October.

(vii) 11th morning: Further intensification of the system with MSW 170-180 kmph gusting

to 195 kmph by 12th morning was predicted. Further, it was forecast that it would cross north

coastal Andhra Pradesh coast around Visakhapatnam around noon of 12th October.

2.2.2 Preparatory action of the State Government & District Administration

Based on the IMD reports, the following preparatory actions were initiated by the

State Government.

Dates: 08-10-2014 and 09-10-2014:

Video conference of the Hon’ble Chief Minister with the District

Administration.

Video conference of the Commissioner, Disaster Management with the District

Administration.

Control Rooms were opened at the District Head Quarters and Mandal Head

Quarters and also at the Offices of GVMC, APEPDCL, Police, etc.

Chief Secretary reviewed the Commissioner, Disaster Management.

Date: 10-10-2014:

Cabinet Secretary reviewed the Cyclone Preparation action.

District Collector held a meeting with District Officials and mandal level teams

regarding cyclone preparedness.

According to the instructions of the District Collector, the following steps were taken:

1. The District Administration evacuated thousands of coastal village’s people to relief

centres/safer places and activated all good conditioned cyclone centres. Utmost care was

taken to provide good civic amenities at these cyclone shelters.

Relief Camps

Total relief camps : 47

People rehabilitated : 65,000

Period of relief camps : from 11th

to 16th

October 2014

2. In addition to the relief camps, food packets and other food items were supplied to the

public at their homes.

3. All flights from Vizag were cancelled from Saturday afternoon.

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4. Restrictions were imposed on vehicular movement along 350 km of National Highway

16, from Itchapuram in Srikakulam to Payakaraopeta in Vizag district from Saturday

evening and no vehicle was allowed on NH 16, barring emergency cyclone relief vehicles

and ambulances.

5. APSRTC had cancelled long-distance buses.

6. All essential commodities were lifted and stocked at or near to relief centres and safer

places.

7. NDRF teams (46 no) were placed at six locations across the district with 6 helicopters and

200 rubber boats.

8. All logistics such as wireless sets, Police VHF Sets were arranged. The state government

also provided satellite phones.

9. Navy was alerted for any time deployment and one contingent of Army force was placed

at positions.

10. Times to time satellite pictures were viewed to track the location and speed of the

cyclone. Both Indian and U.S. sites were closely observed. Once in the range of 200 Nm,

Doppler radar was also was fully utilized for assessing the track, time and rainfall.

11. A group on Telegram involving all the district officials was created to share real time

information and pictures.

Date: 11-10-2014:

By Video conference Chief Secretary reviewed all the above actions.

As per the instructions railway cancelled 46 trains and diverted routes of 31

trains.

All information about the progress of the cyclone, its proposed place of landfall

and the precautions to be taken by the state government were propagated

through FM radio, electronic media, AIR, etc especially about not to come out

of the house till the cyclone subsides entirely.

Regular monitoring of the relief centres were conducted by higher officials.

Two thousand emergency staff were placed for emergency operations with 40

Walky-Talky and ~4000 electric poles.

In the Visakhapatnam district 48 medical teams and 2 mobile medical teams

with 47 ambulances were deployed to serve in 126 identified vulnerable

villages.

City administration GVMC placed 52 medical teams in the city for the purpose

of first aid and medical support. Coming to details, for each zone the following

number of teams were sent for support. Zone I – 13 medical teams, Zone II – 3

medical teams, Zone III – 5 medical teams, Zone IV – 15 medical teams, Zone

V – 9 medical teams, Zone VI – 2 medical teams, Ankapalli Zone – 2 medical

teams and at Bhimili Zone – 3 medical teams were placed.

Government hospital i.e., King George Hospital (KGH) made arrangements of

60 kv, 125 kv and 80 kv power generators for power supply to wards, operation

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theatres, ICUs etc. Many private hospitals in the city also taken necessary

precautions to continue undisturbed medical support to patients.

Meghadrigedda reservoir is one of the main sources for drinking water supply to

the Visakhapatnam city. Its highest water baring capacity is 61 feet. As already

its water level was reached 51 feet, instructions were given to its staff to open

the reservoir gates, if its water level reaches 58 feet.

Evacuated 4000 people to 6 camps at Anakapalli division, 5000 people to 14

camps at Narsipatnam division and 21,000 people to 61 camps at GVMC limits.

Government stored cooking gas/fuel, petrol and rice at various places to use

them when required. Suggested public to store food items, vegetables and other

basic necessities for three days.

Elected political representatives (MLAs) and government higher officials were

visited vulnerable locations in their areas and requested people to shift to safe

locations or rehabilitation centres.

2.2.3 Risk prevention and mitigation activities

Based on early warning by IMD/Cyclone Warning Center/INCOSIS district

administration in coordination with city administration (GVMC), police, fire services

and other line departments taken the following actions, to minimize the possible loss

and damages.

- The information related to cyclone Hudhud formation, its status, rising intensity

etc., were disseminated to government authorities and public time to time. Media

and all means of communication media were utilized very well to give alerts.

- Precautions related to cyclones, (especially do’s & don’ts) were printed in news

papers in both English and local Telugu language in most of the news papers as

with Chief Ministers message. News papers and television channels were served

very well to generate awareness and alert of the situation.

- Teams of Government officials were moved very fast to identify and evacuate

people in low laying and vulnerable areas. To identify these areas utilized

available information in records and their field experience. Alerted the people in

the city that not to come out during the cyclone which is having high wind

velocity.

- The cyclone shelters in the region are not in a condition to accommodate people

because of deteriorating conditions and lack of facilities like power, water supply,

toilets and sanitation etc. So nearby schools, strong buildings of public/private

properties, community halls etc., at various safe places in the city were identified

and established as the relief camps. Total relief camps established during this

period are 223 in the cyclone affected areas, whereas within GVMC limits the

numbers of relief camps established were 61 and at sub urban areas are 20.

- Evacuated more than 1,35,000 persons from vulnerable and risky areas. At most

of the places people supported for evacuation, while in some areas forced

evacuation was done because of emergency situation. Special care has been taken

to provide basic necessities/facilities for women and children.

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2.3 Community awareness and support

People in the Visakhapatnam city are much aware of industrial accidents, but

coming to natural hazards the awareness level is very less, especially in vulnerable

locations. When government officials visited vulnerable locations and requested people to

evacuate from their areas, most of the people were not supported. But as the cyclone

intensity is raised continuously people supported to government officials in evacuation.

On the night of 11th

October as the situation started to goes worst, people in the coastal

fishermen areas and slums reached to identified rehabilitation shelters and nearby safe

buildings to escape from the cyclonic winds.

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Chapter 3: Cyclone - Intensity, Impact & Government Response

3.1 Intensity of cyclone Hudhud

3.2 Impact of cyclone Hudhud

3.3 Response activities by government authorities

3.1 Intensity of cyclone Hudhud

As per IMD reports, based on INSAT-3D satellite imageries, a low level circulation

developed over Tenasserim coast in the morning of 6th Oct. 2014 was intensified day by day

and became as a VSCS- Hudhud, crossed at 17.9°N/83.2°E of Visakhapatnam coast, Andhra

Pradesh, India between 1200 and 1300 hrs IST of 12th October 2014. At the time of landfall,

according to HWSR located at the CWC, IMD, Visakhapatnam, one-minute average

Maximum Sustained Surface Wind speed (MSW) was about 74 knots (137kmph) at 1101

hours IST and the 3-minute average MSW which is the standard practice of the IMD was

about 69 knots (128kmph) at 1103 hours IST over Visakhapatnam. The AWS installed at a

ship near Visakhapatnam port recorded one-minute average MSW of 181.6 kmph around the

time of landfall. According to interpretation of satellite imageries, as per Dvorak technique

by the IMD, the Hudhud cyclone intensity was T5.0 on intensity scale which corresponds to

an MSW of about 90-100 knots (167-185 kmph). The DWR, VSK recorded 67 meters per

second or 130 knots (241kmph) at a height of about 200 meters. The one second peak gust

wind speed was 140.6 knots (260 kmph) at 1042 hours IST at Visakhapatnam. These strong

gale winds with rain started right from 4.00 A.M onwards on 12.10.2014 leaded to large scale

structural damages.

As per the Radar observations started from 11th

October, the cyclones eye was

fluctuated as closed and open eye. The cyclones maximum eye diameter was 52 km at 0730

hrs IST of 11th October. At the time of land fall, the cyclone eye was varied in between 36-

46 km on 12th

October. According to the observation taken in the IMD observatory at

Visakhapatnam, the lowest central pressure was 950.3hPa, the pressure drop at the centre was

54hPa and the outermost pressure of the cyclone was 1004hPa. The maximum convective

band in the wall cloud region was limited to northwest sector and adjoining southwest sector

around the centre initially on 11th. During landfall, the maximum rainfall region shifted to

northeast sector leading to very heavy (124.5 to 244.4 mm) to extremely heavy (≥244.5 mm)

rainfall over North Andhra Pradesh and South Odisha. Maximum 24 hour cumulative rainfall

of 38 cm ending at 0830 hrs IST of 13 October was reported from Gantyada (dist

Vizianagaram) in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from North Andhra Pradesh and South Odisha,

there has been good rainfall activity over Chhattisgarh, East Uttar Pradesh Bihar and over

Nepal. Observed Storm Surge recorded by the INCOIS tide gauge was 1.4m above

astronomical tide at Visakhapatnam.

During the land fall of the Hudhud Cyclone, while it crossing through Visakhapatnam

city, the first hit by it cyclonic wall region entering the city was during ~10.15 am to ~12.15 pm

was with wind speed of 180 Kmph and again second hit i.e., crossing of cyclonic wall region

through city was took place during ~12.45 P.M to ~2.45 pm with wind speed of > 200 Kmph.

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Heavy rains with gales continued from 4.00 am to 9 pm with 195 Kmph at most of the places.

Because of high speed gales there are terrifying wind blowing sounds and shaking of buildings

took place in most parts of the city. While crossing the cyclone especially cyclone eye wall

region, the rain mixed with sea spray was almost parallel to land with flying objects. The

gap/lull period in between two cyclone eye wall regions/heavy gale periods, was of half-an-

hour to two hours varying at different places, was the middle of cyclone eye which was

experienced by the city residents. The gap/lull period was with of different ambience and light

intensity comparing to normal times. Even sun also came with different lighting. But

most/almost all of the Visakhapatnam people that they didn’t know at that time that they are in

the middle of the cyclone eye. During this gap period, many people came out of their houses to

watch the devastation caused by gale winds from morning and some have tried to go to beach

areas to observe the sea. But as with a short interval the second time high speed gale winds

because of crossing of cyclone eye wall region started, people went inside of their houses.

During this time most of the destruction was happened in the city comparing to first one.

During this time the wind direction was completely opposite direction comparing to morning

time. As per the observations, field investigations and community consultations made, it is

evident that the cyclone while crossing through the city it changed its direction slightly from

north to south. Because morning of the 12th

October the major devastation was started and

storm surge incident took place at Bhimili (Bhimunipatnam) area of the Visakhapatnam city

which was located in north-east corner of the city and during second half of the day the

intensity of cyclone was high with storm surge at Pudimadaka area which was at south side of

the Visakhapatnam city. While crossing the coast at speed of 200 – > 220 Kmph coupled with

heavy rains, resulted huge losses in the city of Visakhapatnam.

3.2 Impact of cyclone Hudhud

The Cyclonic eye of the VSCS, Hudhud was passed rigorously with ~200 kmph gale

winds and copious rains through Visakhapatnam city and caused extensive devastation to

infrastructure, environment and properties of both public and private sectors. The intensity of

cyclonic winds prevailed for 6 hours after landfall. Heavy rainfall affected five districts of

Andhra Pradesh are west Godavari, east Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and

Srikakulam and eight districts of Odisha are Ganjam, Gajapati, Koratpur, Rayagada,

Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Kalakhandi, Phulbani. The storm surge took place in some low-

lying areas of Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts at the time of landfall.

Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar in India and

Nepal have experienced rainfall as the system moved northwards and further inland. The

Cyclone has caused 1) Wind storm and storm surge at north Andhra Pradesh particularly in

Visakhapatnam and 2) Heavy rain, flooding and water logging at various places. The main

impacts in Visakhapatnam and its nearby areas are as follows:

Loss of life: At various places some people were died due to building/wall collapse,

fallen trees, broken glasses, flying objects, disturbance to medical facilities etc.

Loss of shelter: Many houses and mud huts have collapsed and demolished. Most of

the building and houses were got damaged by breaking of glass/doors, separation of

roof tops, wall collapse etc due to gale winds.

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Damage to Environment: The city had very good green cover as the avenue

plantation and parks belongs to GVMC and other Government organizations,

maintained in a prestigious manner. Because of cyclonic winds more than 90% of

trees in vegetation cover were lost by uprooting/loss of branches. The city lost most of

its various species of flora and fauna, which resulted loss in biodiversity of the region.

Damages to power supply: Because of gale winds and falling of trees at almost all

places in the city electric poles (~ 20,000) were broken down. Transformers at many

places were collapsed/damaged. So after the cyclone, restoration of power has taken

tough task.

Damage to water supply: Because of damages of water pipelines of individual

houses/buildings and no power, regular water supply to the residential areas was

stopped.

Failure of communication network: Due to collapse of mobile service towers and

lack power supply at almost all places no mobile phones were worked.

Damage to infrastructure: Both public and private infrastructure like roads,

railways, buildings etc damaged very badly. Infrastructure of the GVMC such as

municipal buildings, water supply installations, street lights, modern lighting in

important pockets of the city. Majority street light poles have been completely

damaged. School buildings, storm water drains and street drains in every nook and

corner of the city have been partially damaged.

Damages to Industries: All most all industries (major/medium/minor) were damaged

badly due to cyclonic winds. Production facilities also in many

metallurgical/chemical/power industries were damaged due to wind and power

failure.

Disturbance to transportation: The blockades in the entire road network of the city

due to the fallen trees, electric poles, telephone poles, hoardings and debris, free flow

of transport activities on roads were affected. BT Roads and CC Roads at some places

were damaged. The rescue teams and government officials could not move to the

affected places due to severe obstructions on the roads. Brought the normal life in the

city by clearing roads became a very tedious task. Air Port damaged severely.

Railway lines signal system was also badly damaged.

Strom Surge: At Bhimunipatnam (Bhimili) and Pudimadaka some areas were

inundated due to storm surge. At these places houses collapsed and domestic items

washed away in to the sea.

Inundation of low laying areas: Some low laying residential and agricultural areas

in and around Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram districts were inundated

due to heavy rain fall.

Crop damages: Due to gale winds, heavy rains, floods at many places agricultural

crops, horticulture plantations etc were damaged. Mainly paddy, coco nut, banana,

coffee plantations were affected at both plains and tribal areas.

Loss of fishing boats: At almost all fishing villages in the Visakhapatnam coast,

many fishermen boats were lost/damaged.

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Disturbance to livelihoods: Because of damages/loss of facilities/power supply etc

almost all livelihood activities in the region were affected. The city is completely

paralyzed due to massive destruction in unimaginable scales.

3.3 Response activities by government authorities

Monitoring of cyclone status: Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) with its

facilities and collaborations with other national/international collaborations accurately

predicted the genesis, intensity, track and point & time of landfall and also the adverse

weather like heavy rainfall, gale wind and storm surge 4-5 days in advance.

Dynamical statistical models were used to track the cyclone and predict its intensity.

NASA also provided good support from the time of its genesis, predicting track and

intensity. Available space, meteorological and oceanographic facilities were utilized

full extent for cyclone prediction. They are:

- INSAT-3D satellite imageries to monitor the cyclone.

- High Wind Speed Recorder (HWSR) located at the Cyclone Warning Centre

(CWC-IMD), Visakhapatnam.

- The Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) of IMD at Kailasgiri, Visakhapatnam.

- Automatic Weather Station (AWS) installed in a ship located near Visakhapatnam

port by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System (INCOIS),

Hyderabad.

- The Dvorak technique is utilized to estimate the intensity of cyclone and hence the

associated MSW.

- The IMD observatory at the CWC, VSK continuously monitored the Mean Sea

Level Pressure (MSLP) during the landfall of cyclone, Hudhud.

- Satellite imageries of international geostationary satellites Meteosat-7 and

MTSAT and microwave & high resolution images of polar orbiting satellites

DMSP, NOAA series, TRMM, Metops were also considered.

Bulletins issued by CWC, Visakhapatnam and IMD: VSCS Hudhud was

monitored by DWR Visakhapatnam continuously and observations were taken every

10 minutes and bulletins were issued hourly till 1020 hrs IST of 12th

October up to

collapse of communication system. However, the observations from DWR

Machillipatnam were used to monitor the cyclone till 12th evening. IMD continuously

monitored, predicted and issued bulletins containing track & intensity forecast at +06,

+12, +18, +24, +36, +48, +60, +72, +84, +96, +108 and +120 hrs or till the system

weakened into a low pressure area. The above structured track and intensity forecasts

were issued from the stage of deep depression onwards. The graphical display of the

observed and forecast track with cone of uncertainty and the wind forecast for

different quadrants were uploaded in the RSMC, New Delhi website

(http://rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in/) regularly. The storm surge models of INCOIS and

IIT, Delhi were used for prediction of storm surge. (IMD, India)

Emergency Operations Center (EOC): Operations from Emergency Operation

Centre (EOC) established at Collectors office was continued its service during the

cyclone crossing. Some officials located at EOC performed their duties by receiving

23

information from concern departments, sending instructions to field officials/staff and

monitored the status of the cyclone and field conditions. While many officials in the

field delivered duties like forced evacuation of people from vulnerable locations,

logistic arrangements, field monitoring etc.

Information & communication: Because of collapse of communication network the

dissemination of information related to cyclone status and sending instructions to field

staff were a tough task at that time. When the situation gone beyond the control,

instructions given to field staff to stop the response activities and reach safe places up

to crossing of the cyclone. As this decision was taken at correct time, it saved lives of

many field staff that are moving in the city. At state level control room has established

and more than 1 crore SMS has been sent to public and community as preventive

action from State administration. From the last 3-4 days of the cyclone crossing

cyclone precautionary measures were published by state government in both English

and local Telugu language. Media through television channels, Ham radios, FMs have

played a great role in dissemination of information and alerting the community.

Search & Rescue activities: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Police, Fire

Services, City/District administration officials were deputed for search and rescue

activities in vulnerable pockets of the city. They have passed the status of cyclone

information to the people at risky locations time to time. Rescued many people from

gale winds and storm surge happened during the cyclone land fall. At Bhimili and

Pudimadaka areas after collapse of communication network decisions taken by local

city administration/police officials and rescue activities of NDRF saved many

people’s life, for which now the people at these locations have good respect on

NDRF/Police and government officials, which was not earlier.

Evacuation and rehabilitation: Administration given alerts and evacuated many

people from vulnerable/risky coastal fishermen villages, low lying areas and slum

locations. As there is risk of damage due to gale winds, government officials

evacuated slum people to safe shelters. And because of inundation risk due to storm

surge/heavy rains evacuated people from low laying areas. Cyclone shelters in the

region are not in good condition to accommodate people. So nearby schools,

community halls, buildings of public/private properties were identified and used as

rehabilitation centers. Administration has established control rooms in all four

districts to assist the community and machinery in emergency. Due to heavy gales and

rain, the public were advised not go outside from the houses and relief camps. Food,

Water and sufficient Medicines were provided in the all the relief camps organized in

the District.

Regulation of traffic: The regulation of traffic from the previous day of the Hudhud

on the national highway and passing of the information to the nook and corners of the

mandals has saved lot of loss of life including that of the animals. South Central

Railways has cancelled more than 41 trains and more than 35 trains were diverted to

other routes. Airplanes were cancelled.

Government decisions: The measures taken by the Andhra Pradesh state government

under the leadership of Shri. N. Chandra Babu Naidu and his council of ministers

24

through local administrations are most appreciable apprehending the major disaster

and preventing the colossal damage to the minimum possible extent. Established toll

free in State head quarter[1100, 04023456005] and Coastal districts to access info on

cyclone information and help to the needy

Immediate relief: Immediately after the heavy gales stopped at about 9.00 PM on

12.10.2014, restoration work began such as cleaning of roads, removal of

debris/fallen trees/branches. The entire GVMC administration was pressed into

service to made alternative arrangements for providing safe drinking water besides

taking up temporary restoration on war-footing, deployed staff to various places,

positioned of teams in restoration of water supply, street lighting, clearing of the

roads, first aid etc., helped to take timely action and sanitation in the entire city

brought to the normalcy within a record time of one week.

Precautionary measures: Taking consideration of electricity accidents, power supply

has been stopped as a precautionary measure during the cyclone. Drinking water

supplied to almost all locations for maximum time to store water in residential tanks for

drinking and household activities. Suggested to store food items, fuel etc for next 5-6

days.

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Chapter 4: After disaster – Relief to Recovery

4.1 Relief operations

4.2 Restoration activities

4.1 Relief operations

The Andhra Pradesh State Government was able to reduce loss of life by taking

necessary precautionary measures in time. Immediately after the cyclone Chief Minister

Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu reached Visakhapatnam and made an aerial survey of the

affected areas. He has directed all the officials to ensure quick relief operations and taken

direct responsibility of monitoring the relief and restoration activities. He has reviewed

the relief and restoration activities status time to time by conducting meetings with

concern officials. District officials, heads of departments, every government employee

were deputed to work on field for relief, restoration and rehabilitation works. Government

has taken much care in estimating damages of properties, houses, loss of life etc. On 14-

10-2014, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inspected the extent of damage

along with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and announced INR 1000

crores for immediate relief. 41 IAS officers are positioned to oversee the relief work in

severely affected mandals.

Government of Andhra Pradesh issued Government Order (GO.Ms.No.9, dated

12-10-2014) to enhance the scale of assistance to the effected victims of Hudhud

Cyclone. It covered enhanced relief to crop damages, gratuitous relief to victims of the

Hudhud cyclone in the form of ex-gratia to diseased persons and those who suffered loss

of limbs. It also included ex-gratia for damaged houses and huts etc. and as well as relief

to Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.

Food distribution to the people at shelter and those in need was done duly by

mobilizing the food, drinking water, perishables, etc from other districts viz., East

Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur both through air and roads duly creating a

situation to comfort the people affected. The food (Rice, Dal, Oil and other commodities),

drinking water sachets and fruits were distributed to the entire 13.09 lakhs card holders as

per the Government Order (GO.Ms.10.dated 17-10-2014) with revised scale of assistance.

To facilitate the distribution of material successful mixed the nodal team members came

from neighbor districts and Janmabhoomi program members, and divided Visakhapatnam

district as eight zones for cyclone relief & recovery operations.

The Andhra Pradesh government, for the first time in India, has utilized space

technology with the help of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and National

Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in disaster management. The government with the help

of NRSC has also launched an Android app for a crowd sourcing project where people

could upload photos from their smart phones. Within a two days, as per NRSC, over

3,000 downloads of app was recorded. The chief minister has directed NRSC to use GIS,

GPS and remote sensing technologies to spot the damages and put them on the satellite

26

through geo-tagging. This was enabled the government to have the data on damages on

the map. The government has engaged four satellites to monitor Cyclone Hudhud. They

are RISat1, RISat2, Radar Sat and Resource Sat2.

The Chief Minister urged officials to use Facebook, Twitter and Google to spread

the message. Andhra Pradesh government has created a Facebook page called AP

Disaster Management for which Facebook and Google have promoted and verified the

page within an hour of the page’s launch. The government has created ♯Hudhud AP to

reach out to people and get information from them on Twitter and Facebook. Whatsapp

was also used extensively.

The Chief Minister requested Prime Minister, to declare cyclone Hudhud as a

national calamity by central government. He has requested central government for Rs

2,000 crore as an adhoc package for relief activities.

4.2 Restoration activities

The Chief Minister directed officials to take up start restoration works on war-

footing from the next day of the Hudhud cyclone i.e., 13.10.2014. He has directed

Principal Secretary (Energy) to start restoration works for power poles, lines and

transformers immediately. He has directed Principal Secretary (Medical and Health)

to ensure that medicines should be stocked up at relief camps and health camps should

be set up at various places. In the meantime, has taken care to send food and water to

evacuated victims at relief camps.

In order to enumerate the losses to individual &damages to infrastructure in

an accurate, timely, transparent and comprehensive manner and to prevent any

possible mistakes, a portal has been developed by the IT Dept -

“www.hudhud.ap.gov.in” consisting of detailed formats for all the aforesaid

departments.

Basic amenities & services:

Water Distribution by Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC)

– till the normal supply of drinking water to the residents was restored, GVMC had

taken multitasks through following routes to supply drinking water to the needy

habitations:

Private tankers mobilized from other districts were put into use.

Generators mobilized locally and from other districts were put into use to activate

the existing water supply schemes - both in rural areas and urban areas.

Operational hand pumps were fully utilized.

Fire Engines were also used to supply water to the apartments.

Debris clearance by GVMC – the mammoth task of the clearance of fallen trees and

debris accumulated was started by GVMC by mobilizing the machineries required

like JCBs, Tippers, Trucks, Hydras, etc from various districts and the fallen trees were

kept in identified stock yards for subsequent disposal:

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Debris clearance was also shared by other agencies like Navy, VPT, etc

Uprooted Trees were cut using the instruments available with NDRF teams, Fire

Department Teams and State Disaster Response Force -SDRF, etc. Orissa

Government has deputed its team under the chairmanship of DGP Fire Services,

Govt. of Orissa and they have done a commendable job

The State Police Department has coordinated with all these external agencies and

GVMC for effective clearance of the roads at the earliest.

Milk Distribution by Dairies:

Regular milk supply through available dairies was monitored and they were told

to sell the milk for two to three days @ 30/- per litre (25% lesser than the rate) till

the demand is met out.

Receipt of milk from other districts – (received free of cost) was distributed to

various needy places of the city and around 13 lakhs pockets (½ litre Distribution

– 12.97 Lakhs) were distributed besides distributing through Tanker as well.

Report of sale of milk was daily monitored to prevent any adverse impact.

Supply of Petrol/Diesel regulated through the following agencies:

HPCL – Though there were long queue in the first two days of the cyclone. The

availability was restored to normal by ensuring regular and continued supply from

all the outlets.

The Honorable CM has called the CMD, HPCL to brief the situation for

restoration of the supply

Other oil companies also followed the suit

The LPG demand was also followed closely to avoid any huge backlog.

Roads

National Highway – Project Director, National Highway Authority of India

(NHAI) was put into action immediately after the end of cyclone to open the

clogged roads and accordingly, the roads were opened to the public at the earliest.

Roads & Buildings: Entire road network has been revived.

PR Roads: Traffic has been restored on the sanctioned roads.

Urban GVMC roads – all roads have been restored.

APSTRC – Bus services to all locations has been restored.

Health

Issued specific instructions to concern departments contain any public health

calamities.

Irrigation sources

Status of reservoir level and release level were monitored on an hourly basis.

Number of breaches was reported and actions were taken for restoration.

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Tele services restoration.

All the telephone services have been restored.

Payment of Ex-Gratia to the death cases

Visakhapatnam Division : 20

Anakapalli Division : 13

Narsipatnam Div : 3

Paderu Division : 9

Total : 45

Ex-gratia of Rs.5.00 lakhs each has been paid for all the 45cases under State

Govt. Norms.

Ex-gratia of Rs.2.00 lakhs each has also been paid to all the 45 cases under

PMRF through online bank transfer.

Payment of Gratuitous relief for injury cases

Severely injured cases : 49

Injured cases : 47

Payment of compensation for house damages – Amount released by the Govt.

The Govt. have released an amount of Rs.75.99 Crores vide Government

Order (G./O.Rt No.273 dt.21.11.2014).

All the beneficiaries’ details viz. photos, bank account numbers, aadhar

numbers etc., were uploaded in the HUDHUD website.

Sanction orders are being issued from Collector’s Office authorizing the

Tahsildars to draw the funds as per the scale of Relief.

Sanction orders were issued for 1,41,627 damaged houses. Of which, the relief

amount was transferred to 1,09,102 beneficiaries.

In JNNURM and RGK housing colonies damages occurred on the item of

works like water supply, syntax tanks and distribution lines, sewerage and

storm water lines etc. 15303 houses were affected and amount required is

506.75 lakhs

Payment of compensation for clothes & utensils (Rs.4000/- each)

Total beneficiaries identified : 10,384

Sanction orders issued : 10,384

Budget released by Govt. : 415.36 lakhs

Amount transferred to beneficiaries : 7,111 cases

Petty Assistance for push carts, street vendors, rickshaw and auto rickshaws etc

(Relief @ Rs.5000/- each)

Total cases enumerated : 4,619 beneficiaries

Sanction orders issued so far : 3487 beneficiaries

29

Budget released by Govt. : Rs230.95 lakhs

Amount transferred so far : 2550 beneficiaries

Agriculture Crop Damages

The government vide Government Order (G.O.Rt No.303 Dt.10.12.2014),

have released input subsidy of Rs.46.46 Crores.

So far the amount has been transferred to 1,15,077 framers for a total amount

of Rs.36.74 Crores.

Horticulture:

The government vide Government Order (G.O. Rt No.304 Dt.10.12.2014)

have released input subsidy of Rs.161.56 Crores.

So far, the input subsidy amount has been transferred to 1,16,922 farmers for a

total amount of Rs.90.24 Crores.

Animal Husbandry Department

The government vide Government Order (G.O.Rt No.4 Dt.03.01.2015) have

released an amount of Rs.19.22 Crores for payment of relief to the 2,762

affected beneficiaries.

So far, the relief amount has been transferred to 2101 beneficiaries for a total

amount of Rs.17.07 Crores

Fisheries Department

Enumerated data is uploaded in Govt. Portal i.e. (www.hudhud.ap.govt.in)

Government vide Government Order (GO MS No. 13 dated 22-10-2014)

declared assistance for sunken mechanized fishing vessels for affected crew

members and dry fish vendors in Fisherwomen Coop. Societies in fishing

harbour, Visakhapatnam.

Government vide Government Order (GO MS No. 15 dated 3-11-2014)

declared assistance to crew members of completely lost or fully damaged

mechanized boats in fishing harbour and fibre boat Kalasis @ Rs 0.10 lakhs

/each.

The government vide Government Order (G.O.Rt No.4 Dt. 03.01.2015), have

released an amount of Rs.14.07 Crores for payment of relief

So far, the bills are presented for Rs.3.16 Crores covering 333 beneficiaries

Power:

This was an unprecedented cyclone in the history of A.P. and power infrastructure got

severely damaged. Transformers more than 6000 were damaged and more than 45,000

electric poles were collapsed. In details

63 EHT towers of Transco (400KV 20 nos, 220KV 30 nos, 132 KV 7 nos,) and 24

EHT towers (400 KV) of PGCIL have collapsed.

30

Power supply got affected in 2 nos. 400KV substations, 10 nos. 220 KV sub-

stations, 25 nos.132 KV sub-stations and 311 nos.33KV sub-stations.

Financial assessment of losses AP TRANSCO 300 crores, APEPDCL 700 crores,

RESCO 100 Crores, PGCIL 100 crores, Total 1200 crores(Tentative)

172 nos. 33KV feeders, 1177 nos. 11KV feeders, 2059 nos. 33KV Poles, 13370

nos. 11KV poles and 14828 nos. LT Poles got damaged. 9957 of DTR structures

and 5100 DTRs got damaged.

Actions taken

1 Restoration works initiated on war-footing since 13.10.2014 on EHT

side.

2 Massive deployment of additional staff from other circles of APEPDCL,

from SPDCL, other states, private contractors etc has been done.

3 13765 Engineers, O&M and contract labor deployed from these sources.

4 Nearly 289 cranes and heavy equipment deployed to speed up the work.

Massive mobilization of materials – poles 30000 and transformers

5000 and other materials have been procured from other districts, states and

even private companies.

Irrigation Department

The Government vide Government Order (G.O Rt No 727 I&CAD Dept.,

Dated 10-11-2014), have issued orders permitting the Engineer-in-Chief

(Irrigation), Irrigation & C.A.D. Department, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad

to take up immediate permanent restoration works of flood damages of

Major, Medium, Minor Irrigation sectors occurred due to HUDHUD

cyclone.

Powers also delegated to the District Collectors to give administrative

sanction upto Rs.10.00 lakh per each source.

Industry:

Visakhapatnam is the industrial capital of the State and all the industries

got affected.

In Visakhapatnam, about 2500 units got affected and estimated loss is

around 2000-3000 crores.

In Srikakulam, about 55 units suffered with the loss of 85 crores and in

Vizianagaram, about 32 units got affected with the loss of 120 crores.

The losses are put up to the tune of around 3200 crores for all the

sectors like pharmaceutical industries, MSMEs, IT industries and other major

industries like power, drugs, steel, etc.

31

Unique Actions taken

1. Under AP State Skill Up gradation Mission, around 250 skilled laborers are mobilized

to cater to the needs of the households for carpentry, electrical works, plumbing

works, etc duly providing the stay facility by the government and in collaboration

with GMR and other similarly placed institutions.

2. Under Horticultural Mission, it is ordered to treat the coconut trees affected under the

cyclone for its revival and benefit to the farmers.

3. Under Pruning and other scientific methods of saving the standing trees, the Govt. has

appointed Sri Chandra Mohan Reddy; IFoS as Special Officer and under the VUDA’s

funding, necessary efforts are being taken to revive the standing trees.

4. The CM has personally reviewed the status of the insurance claims and the pace of

their disposal and accordingly, the pace of the settlement has improved and he has

appointed 7 member committee – Principal Secretary, Industries, APIIC Chairman,

representatives of Insurance Companies, Bankers and representatives of industries and

the committee is meeting frequently to review the pace and to rectify the defects, if

any.

5. The CM has personally monitored the restoration works of the telecom towers and the

CMD, Airtel has called the CM personally to sort out the issues duly assuring to

provide the inter-exchange options among different players till full restoration is

ensured.

6. A group on Telegram was created involving all the district officials to share real time

information and pictures.

7. Many records have been set in regard to the relief operations. The amount of essential

commodities moved has been unprecedented. Never before officials were deputed to a

district on such a large scale. The labors and machineries were brought from all over

the state. The state of Orissa has been very generous in supporting in the relief

process.

8. The enumeration of damages was carried out in record period. A separate website was

created for the same purpose. All the data was regularly uploaded online at the earliest

to bring transparency in the entire process.

9. First time the concept of Crowd Sourcing was used with the help of BHUVAN to

pool in geo-tagged images .This led to a participatory approach in relief operations.

32

10. The entire GVMC administration was pressed into service and with the help of other

municipal staff, sanitation in the entire city brought to the normalcy within a record

time of one week.

11. As per the instructions of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Govt. A.P., 10 KG of rice to the

fishermen and other public below poverty line who were effected by Cyclone. GVMC

made alternate arrangements for providing safe drinking water and sanitation, besides

taking up immediate restoration on war footing by deploying various special teams.

33

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Lessons Learned

- Before the Hudhud cyclone there is a opinion in people and government

officials that the city Visakhapatnam is safe w.r.t Cyclones. But the

Hudhud proved that the Visakhapatnam city is not exception from the

cyclone route and its destruction.

- The detection, early warning and information dissemination before the

cyclone was successful due to many factors including up-gradation of

various components of early warning system of cyclones by IMD and

Ministry of Earth Sciences and national-international collaborations in

recent years.

- Evacuation of people was not sufficient before the cyclone. There is a

situation that people not supported for evacuation initially by saying they

know well about the cyclone and sea. Only when the cyclone crossing

situation going to start worst many people evacuated voluntarily. During

the cyclone it was evident that the coordination between people and

authorities is also less.

- As knowledge and preparedness level in the community is less, most of the

people have not stored food items for a week. At most of the places people

came out to watch the cyclone destruction during the gap/lull period i.e.,

middle of the cyclone during its crossing Visakhapatnam city. So

knowledge and preparedness levels should be improved in the community.

- At first half only most of the trees were fallen down by uprooting.

Existing plantation in the city is not wind tolerant. The fallen trees are

became a big problem for clearing the roads after the disaster. Government

authorities tried to generate the income from the woods of fallen trees. But

as most of the trees economic value is less, the plan was not successful.

- Because of tree falling power lines/houses were damaged at many places.

It is learned that big trees should not be planted near to houses or very near

to roads.

- Beach plantation in the city is very less and in decreasing trend. There is a

need of plantations at beach areas as bio-shields to protect the residential

colonies from the natural hazards.

- Most sufferers during the cyclone are residents of beach areas. Fishermen

colonies which are very near to the sea and at risk to cyclone/tsunami are

needed to rehabilitate at safe places. There is a need of strict

implementation of building codes & CRZ rules.

- Cyclone shelters available in the city and cyclone affected areas are very

old and are not in good condition. They are lacking facilities like power

supply, water supply, toilets and in poor sanitation conditions. There is a

need of multipurpose cyclone shelters at various vulnerable locations.

34

- Early warning system was successful during the Hudhud cyclone. Even

though it should be further strengthened to predict the cyclone path,

intensity and land fall time.

- Incident command system was failed during the cyclone due to failed

wireless communication network. So there is a need of robust

communication systems for the emergency management.

- When the communication systems failed, officials who involved in the

field operations have taken own decision as per the situation they have

observed. So the decision making was changed from central (Emergency

Operation Centre) to decentralization.

- As Visakhapatnam is not faced savior cyclone like Hudhud previously,

many constructions i.e., residential/office buildings, commercial

complexes, holdings, etc., in the city were not built based on considering

the wind damage. Basic amenities were collapsed due to cyclonic winds.

- Officers from government authorities who involved in the cyclone

operations are not well trained previously on disaster management and the

awareness related to natural hazards are also very less. There is a need to

enhance the capacities of officers and volunteers to work effectively

during the emergency operations when natural disasters strike.

- Maximum damage was happened to infrastructure and environment. For

Visakhapatnam disaster risk is a big challenge for development. So there is

a need of mainstreaming DRR & CCA measures in its development

planning.

5.2 Recommendations for Future

5.2.1 Actions required to meet immediate needs

5.2.1.1. For better preparedness & response

Contingency plans should be updated at all levels and sectors

Mock drills with officials and community members

Escape routes should be identified and improved

Effective & alternative communication systems

Awareness in community and officials

Evacuation plans: Identification of safe places, shelters, buildings,

routes, alternatives, mobility plans etc

Preparation of Search & Rescue teams, First Aid teams, Medical

facilities

Identification of relief agencies, donors, stakeholders

Logistics management: Supplies, Transportation, Equipment,

Sanitation, Documentation, clearance etc.

Health Management: Safe drinking water, Control of communicable

diseases, Sanitation, Food safety, Emergency health action plan

35

Development of solar systems to meet the emergency needs like

pumping of water, lighting, communication, power generation,

cooking etc. to meet the challenges in the post-disaster scenario.

Mobile fuel filling stations to catter to the needs of people working in

the rehabilitation works.

Stocking of processed foods for supply to the affected areas.

5.2.1.2 Establishment of DM wing

A full pledged disaster management wing should be established at

district and city administrations.

5.2.1.3 IRS implementation

The Incident Response System (IRS) provides a systematic, proactive

approach guiding the concerned departments and agencies at all levels of

government, the private sectors and Non-Governmental Organizations to work

flawlessly in disaster situation.

5.2.2 Measures for DRR– Structural & non-structural

I. Risk Mitigation

(a) Structural Measures:

Construction of embankments at low laying areas

Construction of sea walls

Cyclone-resistant housing and infrastructure

Bio-shields/Shelter Belts/Beach Plantations

Construction of multi-purpose cyclone shelters

Improved early warning and communication systems

(b) Non-Structural Measures:

Should have standard SOP for each line department

Awareness generation at grass root level

Education on disaster management

Early warning dissemination

Development/enhancement of technological regulations

Risk Transfer mechanisms

Formation of volunteer system with support of civil defense

GMIS ward mapping for vulnerable/hazard locations

Demarcation of hazard areas

Marking safe places for public knowledge

Strengthening linkages & coordination

5.2.3 Post-disaster Damage & Needs Assessment

Post-disaster Damage & Needs Assessment (PDNA) procedures

should be improved and give training to concern departments.

36

Annexure I

LIKELY IMPACTS OF HUDHUD ON THE ENVIRONMENT OF

VISAKHAPATNAM

Prof.S.RAMAKRISHNA RAO, (Retd)

Professor Civil Engg. Dept, ANDHRA UNIVERSITY

Hudhud cyclone has created havoc in north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh on 12th

October, 2014 and caused extensive damage specially to Visakhapatnam district in general

and in particular to Visakhapatnam city. The damage is mainly to the tree cover and

consequential destruction of the power lines leading to the colossal loss to the power sector.

Till today Visakhapatnam has not witnessed the direct entry of the eye of the storm reaching

the land and hence damage was beyond the expectation. So far it is heartening to note that the

Andhra Pradesh government’s fore sight helped the people in controlling the damage to life

and assets.

The regulation of traffic on the previous day of the hudhud on the national highway

and passing of the information to the nook and corners of the mandals has saved lot of loss of

life including that of the animals. The disconnection of power on the night previous to the

storm till the passing off, has also saved the life of stray animals and birds. All said and done

the measures taken by the Andhra Pradesh state government under the leadership of sri. N.

Chandra Babu Naidu and his council of ministers is most appreciable apprehending the major

disaster and preventing the colossal damage to the minimum possible extent. The

rehabilitation of the people and resumption of services of different sectors after the disaster is

the untiring efforts of the administration and local elected representatives taking the reviews

from the honorable chief minister who was guiding force, is much laudable.

In these circumstances of great loss of tree cover and change in the local conditions

the following impacts may occur on the local life and environment. Certain suggestions are

also given here under for the benefit of the locals and to the administration to rebuild the

environment.

1. The loss of green cover:

A) The trees which are functional in absorbing co2 and release o2 naturally gets

reduced and the co2 concentrations may increase due to the depreciation of the

absorbing capacity.

B) The absence of trees will result in the increase in the respirable suspended

particulate matter (rspm – 2.5 microns) and the total suspended particulate

matter (including 10 and 2.5 microns) due to the lack of adsorption by the

leaves of the trees.

37

C) The concentration of the certain pollutants like so2 and nox which are released

due to industries and traffic will be increasing from the existing levels due to

the lack of green belt and avenue plantation.

D) The high transpiration by the leaves will get reduced and the moisture levels

decrease in the biosphere.

E) The increase in radiation will be caused due to the loss of plant canopy and the

direct hitting of sun rays to the earth which will be reradiated into the

surrounding environment.

F) The heat island effect phenomena will be seen in the areas where high-rise

buildings are located and concrete pavements and tar roads exists due to the

continuous radiation and adsorption and re-radiation by the concrete

structures.

G) It also may contribute to the erosion of soils heavily and reach the surface

water runoffs during heavy rains and cause sedimentation of drains or silting

of natural nallas.

H) There is a likely possibility of occurring of landslips or landslides in the hilly

slope areas due to the lack of soil binding resulting in the mass destruction of

trees.

I) During the rainy season for at least next 2 years there is a likelihood of low

recharge of the ground water aquifer and reduction in the recharge in the

aquifer due to the heavy surface runoff and non detention of rain water.

2. Problems due to the waste accumulated:

A) The loss of tree cover accumulated and detained at certain pockets and

grounds which may catch fire and cause damage to the environment by

releasing different organic gases.

B) The wood collected may be disposed off in stages to the following industries.

i) the soft wood required for the paper mills can be sorted out and the parties

may be contacted immediately to lift the wood for utilization.

ii) hard wood may be disposed off to biomass based energy power plant who

will shred them and burn to produce the power.

iii) at any cost the biomass and the waste accumulated should not be

incinerated in public as it may lead to production of dioxides or volatile

organic carbons which may result in asthma and upper respiratory problems in

children and aged.

38

3. Municipal solid wastes and hospital wastes:

Visakhapatnam will be facing a severe problem in handling the municipal

solid waste and hospital waste accumulated and mixed up with the biomass

wastes. Hence separate teams should work to clear by segregating the

municipal solid wastes as they putrefy and spoil the natural bio-waste. It is

observed that the wastes are mixed and dumped which may result in leaching

of organic acids and percolate into the sandy soil strata and cause pollution to

the ground water in the future. So immediate action of removing the dump

grounds used to disposed off wastes by utilizing it appropriately.

4. Water supply systems:

A) Care should be taken in supplying the municipal water to the needy as there is

a likehood of contamination of municipal water through broken pipes.

Monitoring of water quality should be stepped up and the areas may be

identified where the contamination is detected.

B) People also should be educated and informed about the possibility of

contaminated water and proper chlorination should be done at community

level or at the individual level by supplying the appropriate chlorination

mechanisms.

C) In areas where high ground water table occurs, pumping should be avoided in

order to control the contamination of aquifer due to percolation of the

contaminated surface water.

5. Spread of infectious diseases:

A) Due to the lack of protective green cover and as predicted increase of

suspended particulate matter in the air there is a likelihood of increase in the

viral infections to the eyes, throat and allergy to the skin. This happens

because of air borne virus particles which reach the humans extensively due to

the lack of adsorption by trees or lack of impediments.

B) It can be expected that the future rains will bringing the sediments and mix up

with the drinking water or the percolation into the aquifer may lead to several

water borne diseases like cholera and dysentery

6. Prevention and protection measures to combat the above impacts of Hudhud:

The protection of plants which are injured by using their stems and twigs

should be restored which are not uprooted from the ground. A special

nourishment and provision of water should be provided in order to relive

in the half dead plants. Measures also may be taken to straighten up

certain plants which leaned to the ground and rehabilitate them by

supporting to stand erect appropriately.

39

it is now necessary to Visakhapatnam to have certain fountains to the

middle of high raised buildings or in the centrally located places to reduce

the impacts of heat island as it is done in many western countries.

To avoid planting of trees close to the buildings and to the electric poles

and this proved to be damage causing to the existing system. The right

thinking would be to have them in large parks where the people can relax

in the evenings or which may act as artificial lungs to restore the balance

of oxygen to the carbon dioxide.

It should be made mandatory to the entire building owner either old or new

to go for white paints which reflect the radiation instead of absorbing into

the concrete to avoid the heat island effect.

The construction of houses on hill slopes should be avoided unless until

appropriate measures of retaining wall are built by the house owners. The

illegal construction on the hill slopes should totally be avoided and people

who occupied may be rehabilitated from the vulnerable areas identified

after thorough testing of the soil strata.

The local authority should implement strictly the construction of rain water

recharging pits and monitor them through the third party for harnessing the

advantages of increasing the ground water levels. It is also necessary to

identify the surface drains which bring in the rain water mixed with the

drain water into a community recharge pits with appropriate treatment of

the drainage.

The solid waste should be given top priority as it may also be instrumental

in spreading the diseases and promoting the rodents, pigs which are the

reservoirs of many different parasitic diseases. The solid waste also

promotes the fly nuisance which is also cause for spreading the diseases in

the community where small food joints are the sources of spreading the

diseases. It is advised that the people should avoid eating in the public

eateries till the conditions improved in the local environment. The local

authorities should insist the refraining of sweet meats in public by

discouraging the sale of food in the small eateries.

The local authorities and the administration should propagate the avoiding

of any fireworks which are air borne like rockets, lanterns or any fireworks

which may lit fire to the heaps of piled dry solid waste dumped in large

quantities in the grounds. It may also lit fire in localities where still the

debris and tree waste are not removed so far.

It is observed that at several places the mixed solid waste with the tree

twigs are burnt leading to spread of smoke in the localities. It should be

40

advised to the locals or the sweepers not to indulge in letting the fire to the

solid waste.

As Visakhapatnam is identified as a smart city the communication

facilities should be improved and in the absence of electronic media and

print media a public address system or community net work system should

be developed with the help of electronics engineers or with the help of

ham radio system.

The hospitals and the doctors should gear up to the hidden danger of

spread of diseases both viral and bacterial and treat the patients

immediately by identifying them. The medical outlets are also to be

advised to keep ready the medicines in order to face the demanding

situation for the next 2 to 3 months.

The locals should adopt themselves to live with the changing

environmental scenario by adopting the following:

I)during the high temperatures in the area the people should put on cotton

dresses specially white in colour and cover their heads with caps and

protecting their eyes with glasses which have the UV filtering capacity.

They should also avoid moving during the mid day as the temperatures and

radiation will be high.

Ii) the locals should make it a habit to put on nose masks to avoid the dust

entering into their nose.

Iii) they should drink lot of water to detoxify or to avoid dehydration.

Conclusions:

The great loss of tree cover and change in the local conditions due to Hudhud in the city of

Visakhapatnam impacts local life and environment. Suggestions were given in the above

paper to benefit of the locals and to the administration to rebuild the environment. These

suggestions include improvements to the current land, water and solid waste management

practices. These measures can improve the changed environment in Visakhapatnam post

cyclone Hudhud.

41

Annexure II

Questionnaire

Name of the official :

Designation :

Contact number :

Email Id :

Department name :

Hudhud operations starting date :

Hudhud operations last date :

List of main officers and volunteers worked in Hudhud operations (before/during/after):

S.No Name Designation Functions/duties delivered Mobile

number

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

(Improve rows as per requirement)

42

Please answer the following questions:

I. Before Hudhud Cyclone:

1. What are the disaster risk reduction measures taken in your area?

2. When did you know about the Hudhud cyclone?

3. How did you come to know about the Hudhud cyclone?

4. What are the preparedness measures taken by you after received the cyclone warning?

5. What are the duties assigned to you by higher authorities to manage the disaster?

6. How the organization formed and shared the responsibilities to face the disaster?

7. What plans you have followed to deal with this disaster?

8. What are the actions you have taken, including actions with your own decisions?

9. How the early warning information was disseminated to the public?

10. How the awareness was created in the officials and in community?

11. How your department coordinated with other line department like police, fire, district

administration, etc?

12. Describe the type of early warning systems, communications, awareness and response

capacities followed before the disaster?

13. How many cyclone shelters available in your area/zone?

14. What type of buildings you have identified for rehabilitation?

15. Is there any escape routes identified to mobilize the community before/during the

disaster?

16. What is number of people you have evacuated to safe places/rehabilitation centers?

17. Who were deputed for ‘search & rescue operations’ & ‘first aid’?

18. What are the main factors contributing for local risks and vulnerability of the

community?

II. During Cyclone:

1. When the communication was lost? After that what actions you have taken?

2. During operations how you have coordinated with other officials?

3. What are the bad experiences during the cyclone?

4. Explain the step by step stages during the crossing of cyclone Hudhud, through your

area?

5. What are the actions you have planned and taken for emergency management?

6. Who successful was ‘search & rescue operations’ & ‘first aid’?

7. What are the conditions at rehabilitation centers? (food supply, water supply,

sanitation, etc)

III. After Cyclone:

1. What are the relief operations planned and how they implemented?

2. What type of supports you have provided to the community immediately after the

cyclone?

43

3. What is the recovery works done in your area?

4. How long it has taken to complete the relief and recovery operations viz., saving life,

providing first aid, restoration of power, water supply, providing other basic amenities

etc?

5. What is the role of participatory groups like NGOs, CBOs, Welfare associations etc.,

in relief/recovery operations?

6. What was the impact of cyclone Hudhud on the city of Visakhapatnam and in your

zone?

7. What support you got from the community and higher authorities in terms of recovery

operations?

8. What are the challenges or problems encountered during the relief, early recovery

operations?

9. How many members participated in cyclone operations? (before/during/after)

IV. General Questions:

1. What are the experiences/lesions learned from this cyclone Hudhud? Please give both

positive and negative experiences.

2. What are the strongest points and what were the areas that would be improved?

3. What are the additional needs you required to enhance the support to the community,

to minimize the loss of life and minimize the damages/losses to infrastructure etc.

4. What are the suggestion you will give to the administration to face the future

challenges of cyclones?

5. Explain the financial aspect of Hudhud operations/later recovery.

6. Can you describe the challenges and opportunities in urban disaster risk reduction?

7. What are the next steps for making the Visakhapatnam city more resilient?

8. What advice would you give to the other coastal cities?

44

Annexure III

Fig: Map showing the track of Cyclone Hudhud

45

Annexure IV

Fig: Satellite image showing the Cyclone Hudhud

46

Annexure V

Cyclone Hudhud Damages & Government Actions:

Fig: Rough Sea before the Cyclone

Fig: Waves before the Cyclone

Fig: Rough Sea before the Cyclone

Fig: During the cyclone in a area

Fig: Airport after Cyclone Hudhud Fig: Beach road damages

47

Fig: Rough sea waves before the cyclone

Fig: Up-rooted tree

Fig: Up-rooted tree

Fig: Sand on the roads

Fig: Bhimili Fishermen area after cyclone Fig: Beach road at Bhimili

48

Fig: Areal view of damaged boats

Fig: Areal view of Fishing Harbor

Fig: Damages at fishing harbor

Fig: Damaged boats at Bhimili

Fig: Hindustan Ship Yard Fig: Damaged house

49

Fig: Damaged R.K. Beach after Cyclone

Fig: Damaged beach road at Bhimili

Fig: Bhimili fishermen area

Fig: Waltair fishermen village

Fig: Eroded beach at sub-urban Fig: Eroded beach road

50

Fig: Gostani river mouth at Bhimili

Fig: Birds after Cyclone

Fig: Cyclone damages

Fig: Collapsed houses at Bhimili

Fig: Damaged vegetation at University Fig: Visit of PM and CM

51

Fig: Field Visits by Chief Minister

Fig: CM along with Prime Minister

Fig: CM during decision making

Fig: CM addressing the gathering

Fig: Review meeting conducted by Chief Minister

52

Fig: Financial support to victims

Fig: Re-plantation activities

Fig: Field visits by CM

Fig: Fund rising from public

Fig: Feedback from public Fig: CM & PM during press meet

53

Fig: Evacuated people at relief camp

Fig: Evacuated people at relief camp

Fig: Relief materials

Fig: Relief materials

Fig: Water distribution by tankers Fig: Vegetable distribution

54

Fig: City Administration building – Before & After Cyclone Hudhud

Fig: Andhra University – Before & After Cyclone Hudhud

Fig: Siripuram area – Before & After Cyclone Hudhud

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Fig: Station main road – Before & After Cyclone Hudhud

Fig: Steel Plant – Before & After Cyclone Hudhud

Fig: Ukkunagaram area – Before & after Cyclone Hudhud

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Fig: Loss of green cover

Fig: Cyclone damages

Fig: Road damages

Fig: Road damages

Fig: Road damages

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Fig: Clearing of roads by NDRF & Fire

Fig: Clearing of roads by NDRF & Fire

Fig: Clearing of roads by NDRF & Fire

Fig: Road damages

Fig: Web portal on cyclone Hudhud

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Fig: FGD at Peda Waltair area

Fig: Community Consultations

Fig: FGD at Pudimadaka area

Fig: FGD at Paderu area

Fig: Participants response during FGD Fig: team members with fishermen

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Fig: Presentation during case study meeting at GVMC

Fig: Case study meeting at GVMC Fig: Case study meeting at GVMC

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Annexure VI

Fig: Preventive measures published in news papers

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