17 Tewas, Jutaan Warga India Mengungsi Dihantam Badai Siklon
17 Killed and a Million People Flee their Homes as Cyclone Hits India
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
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INDIA saat ini mulai bekerja mencari korban dari reruntuhan akibat badai siklon Phailin yang menghantam negara tersebut, mengakibatkan banjir di kota dan desa serta menghancurkan puluhan ribu rumah.
Tetapi lebih dari 20 jam setelah badai terkuat yang melanda India lebih dari satu dekade menghantam negara bagian Orissa timur, para pejabat mengatakan mereka hanya mendapati 17 korban tewas - di bawah perkiraan semula.
Sebagian besar korban tewas akibat bangunan runtuh saat hujan disertai angin siklon berkecepatan lebih 150 km, upaya evakuasi dini hampir 1 juta orang penduduk berhasil menyelamatkan banyak nyawa, seperti dilansir Mail Online.
"Kerusakan properti sangat luas," kata Amitabh Thakur, petugas polisi di distrik Orissa yang paling parah terkena topan. "Tapi beberapa nyawa melayang," tambahnya, tentang evakuasi massal.
Badai menghanyutkan puluhan ribu lumpur dan pondok atap jerami dan memicu banjir bandang. Namun badai mereda di malam hari, beberapa wilayah hanya terkena sapuan angin semilir pada tengah hari.
Namun pakar meteorologi mengatakan sebagian wilayah akan dihantam hujan lebat dan angin kencang selama 24 jam berikutnya.
"Intensitasnya masih kuat, tapi setelah melintasi pantai telah melemah," kata Sharat Sahu, seorang pejabat tinggi di Departemen Meteorologi India di Orissa, kepada wartawan.
Kekuatan badai biasanya menyurut setelah melintasi daratan, karena terperangkap uap panas dan kelembaban udara.
Di Behrampur, sekitar 7 kilometer ke daratan dari pusat badai, dilaporkan tidak ada korban tewas.
Namun badai menimbulkan kerusakan di sebuah kota kecil, yang menghancurkan jendela rumah, merubuhkan pohon dan tiang-tiang listrik sehingga membuat warga ketakutan.
Di ibukota negara bagian Bhubaneshwar, billboard dan lampu lalu lintas ambruk di seluruh kota dan pohon tumbang, namun laporan awal menunjukkan ibukota negara tersebut lolos kerusakan yang lebih besar.
'Badai 1999 sangat besar, tapi ini tidak sekuat dulu setidaknya di Bhubaneshwar," kata Upendra Malik, seorang pegawai pemerintah kota setempat yang memimpin sukarelawan bekerja dengan kapak dan gulungan tali berat untuk membersihkan jalan dari pohon-pohon yang tumbang.
"Kami baru saja mulai menghitung kerusakan dan dampak di wilayah pesisir diperkirakan lebih buruk."
Lebih dari 600.000 orang dievakuasi dari pantai menjelang badai datang, kata para pejabat, termasuk lebih dari setengah juta di negara bagian Orissa, yang porak poranda dilanda topan, dan 100.000 di negara tetangga Andhra Pradesh.
Para pejabat di kedua Orissa dan Andhra Pradesh negara telah menimbun persediaan makanan darurat dan menyiapkan tempat penampungan.
Militer India menempatkan pasukannya dalam keadaan siaga waspada didukung dengan truk, pesawat angkut dan helikopter yang siap memberikan bantuan darurat.
Otoritas listrik di Orissa telah mematikan listrik di 12 kabupaten di jalur topan setelah sejumlah tiang listrik telah terjungkal akibat hujan deras dan angin kencang.
Dengan beberapa perairan terpanas di dunia, Samudra Hindia dianggap sebagai pusast topan, dan beberapa badai paling mematikan dalam sejarah melalui Teluk Benggala, termasuk siklon 1999 yang juga melanda Orissa dan menewaskan 10.000 orang.
Peramal cuaca AS berulang kali memperingatkan bahwa topan Phailin akan berdampak sangat besar, dan topan datang menyapu Teluk Benggala menuju pantai India Sabtu, citra satelit menunjukkan ekor berputar yang meliputi wilayah seluas lebih dari Perancis.
INDIA was today beginning to sort through miles of wreckage after the Cyclone Phailin roared ashore, flooding towns and villages and destroying tens of thousands of homes.
But more than 20 hours after the strongest storm to hit India in more than a decade made landfall in eastern Orissa state, officials said they knew of only 17 fatalities - far less than many feared.
Most of the deaths came from falling branches or collapsing buildings in the rains ahead of the 125 mph cyclone, but it initially appears that the evacuation of almost 1million people saved many lives.
"Damage to property is extensive,’ said Amitabh Thakur, the top police officer in the Orissa district worst-hit by the cyclone. ‘But few lives have been lost,’ he added, crediting the mass evacuations.
The storm washed away tens of thousands of mud and thatched roof huts and sent seawater surging inland. It slowed significantly overnight, with some areas reporting only breezy drizzles by midday.
But meteorologists said parts of the region would face heavy rains and winds for the next 24 hours.
‘Its intensity is still strong, but after crossing the coast it has weakened considerably,’ Sharat Sahu, a top official with the Indian Meteorological Dept. in Orissa, told reporters.
Storms typically lose much of their force when they hit land, where there is less heat-trapping moisture feeding energy into the storm.
In Behrampur, about 7 miles inland from where the eye of the cyclone struck, there were no reports of deaths early this morning.
But the storm had wrought havoc on the small town, with the wind shattering windows, blowing down trees and electrical poles and terrifying residents.
In the state capital of Bhubaneshwar, billboards and traffic lights had fallen across the city and trees were uprooted, but early reports indicated the state capital escaped major damage.
‘The 1999 storm was very big, but this was not as strong at least in Bhubaneshwar,’ said Upendra Malik, a city employee leading a crew working with axes and coils of heavy rope to clear roads of fallen trees and branches.
‘We've just started to assess the damage and coastal areas will have fared worse.’
More than 600,000 people were evacuated from the coast ahead of the storm, officials say, including more than a half-million in Orissa state, which bore the brunt of the cyclone, and 100,000 in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
Officials in both Orissa and Andhra Pradesh state had been stockpiling emergency food supplies and setting up shelters.
The Indian military put some of its forces on alert, with trucks, transport planes and helicopters at the ready for relief operations.
Electric utility authorities in Orissa had switched off the power in 12 districts in the path of the cyclone after scores of electric pylons had toppled from the torrential rain and high winds.
With some of the world's warmest waters, the Indian Ocean is considered a cyclone hot spot, and some of the deadliest storms in recent history have come through the Bay of Bengal, including a 1999 cyclone that also hit Orissa and killed 10,000 people.
US forecasters had repeatedly warned that Phailin would be immense, and as the cyclone swept across the Bay of Bengal toward the Indian coast Saturday, satellite images showed its spinning tails covering an area larger than France.
