Paradise regained

Hudhud effect countered

Visakhapatnam: The city of destiny, which was ravaged by the super cyclone Hudhud two years ago exactly on this day on October 12, 2014, has rebuilt its fabulous fame and restored its glory. And, the city’s amazing ability of resilience has been on show all along.

When the financial capital of Andhra Pradesh, as the port city is popularly known was decimated with the wounds of the killer cyclone dotted on its beautiful landscape everywhere in the form of flattened buildings, twisted electric poles, uprooted trees and pitched darkness stalking everywhere, it was time for doomsayers to weave stories over the city’s `bleak feature’. Finally, hope gave way to despair and the story of success proved the doomsayers wrong even as the city stunningly rose from scratches.

The way how the city healed its wounds inflicted by the cyclone and bounced back is a source of inspiration for any city at the altar of catastrophes. The fears that the city with the scars of cyclone ravages would scare away investors finally went wrong when it showcased itself for mega international events such as Partnership Summit, International Fleet Review, BRICS summit on urbanisation and International Seafood festival.

The delegates who descended from across the globe were stunned by the city’s story of optimism and resilience which was marked by its indefatigable glitter and pomp with speck and span environs. The city endowed with bushy forests in its midst has its lush green cover back. The reserve forest spread over 17,000 acres falling under the GVMC limits looks like a green carpet adorning the port city, so are Zoological Park and Kailasagiri hills.

The airport and railway station which suffered heavy damages with the roofs blown away now are back with their swanky shapes. But it is the poor who are however deprived of such a show of resilience. Scores of people who became homeless, street vendors, fishermen and hawkers who had had their livelihood lost are crying for help still to rebuild their lives.

However, benevolence displayed by the software firm Infosys by financing the construction of 200 houses at Pudimadaka, a fishermen habitation, provides some silver lining to the battered souls. According to official data, 1,46,799 houses were damaged either fully or partially with fisher folks, rickshawpullers and daily wagers taking the full brunt of nature’s fury.

Former IAS officer EAS Sarma said even now many families are yet to receive any aid. In some cases, families who did not have an Aadhar card were refused assistance, in contravention of the Supreme Court judgment that Aadhar should not be made compulsory," Sarma said. Though Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu estimated that the Hudhud loss in three districts was about Rs 70,000 crore, the Central agencies put it at Rs 9,000 crore. Finally, the city has received an amount of Rs 544.73 crore as Central assistance.