In the city of Calcutta, which has a population of 15 million, the airport was flooded, electricity and telecommunications in parts of the metropolis in northeastern India failed. The state of West Bengal was particularly affected by the hurricane with at least 72 deaths. The head of government said that the natural disaster would hit their area harder than Corona and it would take three or four days to assess the full extent of the damage.
“I’ve never seen anything like it”
A man who lived near the place where the storm hit land at 185 kilometers an hour on Wednesday told NDTV: “Many areas are devastated and there is no water supply. In our village, this terrible storm has it all flattened. ” A resident of the city of Kolkata said: “Our windows shook and our house moved because of the storm. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
In both countries, more than three million people were brought to emergency shelters before the storm hit. India and Bangladesh have a lot of experience with severe hurricanes that occur repeatedly in the Gulf of Bengal. A region that is one of the last large habitats of wild and endangered Bengal tigers is also affected.
Nearly 10,000 people died in a large cyclone in 1999. Experts believe that the intensity of the storms has tended to increase in recent years, partly due to climate change. However, the number of victims has generally been lower in recent years, since the two countries have now built good emergency shelters and drawn up evacuation plans.
Fear of corona in shelters
However, some people did not want to go to the emergency shelters, authorities and aid organizations said. Some would have been afraid to leave their belongings behind, others to be infected with the corona virus in the emergency shelters.
Authorities from both countries said they had provided more emergency shelters to keep the distance. Empty schools would be used. However, it was difficult to find more buildings, as some emergency shelters currently served as quarantine buildings or temporary accommodations for stranded migrant workers. Masks and disinfectants were distributed in the accommodations. But television pictures also showed that the distances were not always kept.
The two countries are still struggling with a significant increase in the number of corona infections – despite weeks of curfew. India recently reported more than 100,000 known infections. It has overtaken China. More than 3,400 people in India died from Covid-19 lung disease. In both countries, many people have no access to good medical care.
Storm “Amphan” had weakened on Thursday afternoon. Some people were already relying on the emergency shelters, as authorities said, to assess the damage and partly to rebuild their homes.
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