More than 32 people have been killed and thousands of families have been left in need of humanitarian assistance after tropical storm Laila made landfall on Thursday close to Machilipatnam on the coastline of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The storm brought winds of over 125 kilometres an hour, together with heavy rains and a tidal surge, causing hardship for hundreds of communities.
"Our operations unit had tracked the storm since the beginning of the week and Red Cross volunteers on the ground were well placed to respond", explains Dr S. P. Agarwal, secretary general of the Indian Red Cross Society. "The immediate priorities now are to bring medical care to people with injuries and to make sure that food, water and shelter are provided to the thousands of people who have no homes to return to."
In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu State, Indian Red Cross national, state and district level disaster response teams are working closely with local government officials to bring help to people affected by the storm. In Andhra Pradesh, 5,000 pre-positioned family packs are being distributed by the state branch together with 4,500 family tents that have been stockpiled by Red Cross district branches in Mahaboobnagar and Kurnool.
Thousands of local palm thatch homes have been flattened or swept away by the storm and damage to infrastructure has been extensive. Power lines are down, roads flooded and communication links are severed in many areas. According to the government, this is the worst storm to have hit Andhra Pradesh in 14 years. As many as 1,170 villages across seven districts are likely to bear the brunt of heavy rains over the next few days.
In advance of the storm, more than 87,000 people in Andhra Pradesh were evacuated from low-lying areas to safer places and 500 relief camps established. Many are sheltering in the 279 cyclone shelters that had been built over successive years by the Red Cross at vulnerable points along India’s western coastline.
"We have been building cyclone shelters in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa since the early 70s. Cyclones coming in from the Bay of Bengal pose a constant threat to people living in these areas and there is no doubt that these shelters have saved thousands of lives," explains Dr Agarwal.
As the storm continues to track in a north-westerly direction towards Orissa and West Bengal, the severe weather that has followed in its wake is expected to ease by the weekend.