Odisha: Cyclone Fani caused loss of Rs 9,336.26 crore

Cyclone 'Fani' that ravaged Odisha's coastal districts and killed 64 people last month caused a total loss of Rs 9,336.26 crore, a senior official said Thursday.

While the calamity caused a loss of Rs 6,643,63 to public properties, Rs 2,692.63 crore is required for relief measures for the affected people, he said."The total loss to public properties and requirement of funds for relief measures have been estimated at Rs 9,336.26 crore," Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi said.The final figure was arrived at after village to village assessment was made through various teams constituted by the district collectors following the cyclone, he said.

"The state government is seeking an assistance of Rs 5,227.68 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) in order to meet the expenditure on the ongoing relief and restoration measure," the SRC said.Sethi said Rs 1,357.14 crore has so far been released by the state government to various districts and departments towards disaster response.

The cyclone that made landfall at a wind speed of about 200 kmph near Puri affected 14 districts involving 20,367 villages. It affected 1.6 crore people and 1.88 lakh hectare of crop areas.A total of 5,56,761 houses have either been fully or severely or partially damaged in the cyclone while 64 people lost their lives. Twelve persons received grievous injuries and the cyclone killed 2,650 large animals, 3,631 small animals and 53,26,905 poultry birds," Sethi said, quoting the final damage assessment report.

The state government had submitted a preliminary report to the inter-ministerial central team which visited the cyclone-affected areas between May 12 and 15.The preliminary report had put the losses at Rs 11,942.68 crore, the official said.