Initial Reports of Damage from Cyclone Amphan

Preliminary reports have been trickling in from Pachimbanga Khetmajoor Samity (PBKMS) members of widespread damage and destruction. PBKMS has been organizing rural workers in the Sunderbans region of West Bengal for over 30 years now. We jumped into the fray as soon as the news of the trajectory of the cyclone was received, circulating helpline numbers and raising awareness about evacuation procedures, flood shelters and government guidelines. As the frightful storm progressed, however, phone lines went down. Vast areas of the affected regions of Bengal, including Kolkata and its adjoining suburbs are still without power. Our central office in Badu (Barasat) from where outreach and relief efforts are being coordinated has also been damaged by the cyclone. We are without electricity, water and phone connections.  Yesterday, we managed to get a preliminary picture of the extent of damage and destruction using intermittent network connections even as 70% of our members remain disconnected from the rest of the world. 

Fields are flooded with saline water which came gushing in when embankments broke. Even when some embankments managed to hold the surge, the storm surge raised the water many feet above the height of the embankments and water overflowed into low-lying islands.

Fish ponds form an integral part of a small farmer’s income in South and North 24 Parganas. Here, ponds are lined with fruit trees. Fish have died in village ponds either because of saline water flooding or rotting tree debris entering the water.

From all the reports we have gathered there are no reports of severe hunger yet.

Map of South Bengal showing the blocks in the two affected districts, South and North 2 Paraganas

The cyclone first made landfall in Sagar and Namkhana blocks. We have not been able to reach anyone in Sagar. PBKMS state committee member Khadeja Khatun is in Namkhana block. She called us for just a couple of minutes yesterday. There is no power and she is trying to preserve her battery. Networks come and go. She says after the storm entered, the concrete embankment broke at Fraserganj. Everything is flooded. 

As the storm moved north, in the islands that form Gosaba block to the east of Sagar and Namkhana, there are remote island villages such as Kumirmari and Satjeliya where a large number of houses, unlike in the rest of the Sunderbans, are still constructed from mud. These kaccha houses have all been severely damaged by the wind, heavy rains and flood waters. Ashok Mandal in Satjeliya says that luckily no embankments were breached in his gram panchayat but concrete embankments have broken in Bali-2 and Bipradaspur. 

House damaged by the wind in Chotamollakhali, Kalidaspur

 Just north of Gosaba, in Basanti block, Alok Das a marginal farmer who also owns a small shop says that with the flooding of farmland and contamination of fish ponds almost 4500 families of the 6500 in his gram panchayat, Jharkhali, are devastated. 9 out of 10 houses have been destroyed. There is not a single house with the asbestos, tin or tile roof left standing. The gale force winds have taken all the roofs flying with them and just the walls of the houses remain. 

The breach of concrete embankments, that were built specially saying they would be more resilient after the devastation of Cyclone Aila in 2009 is everywhere says Kanai Haldar, state committee member who is coordinating PBKMS efforts throughout the region. Kanai says, “we are constantly playing catch up with the embankments, they are destroyed on one side, we rebuild and then they break on another side. Saline water constantly corrodes the bricks. Many of these houses with the tin and tile roofs are houses that were paid for by the government housing assistance scheme, Indira Awaas Yojana (or now Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)) but these roofs are in no way suitable for the climatic conditions we face with tropical storms and cyclones.” 

Broken houses in Mathurapur-2

North of Namkhana and Sagar, is Patharpratima. We have not been able to reach people in any of the island villages there.

Further north in Mathurapur-2, in Nagendrapur, PBKMS member Ruhit Mondal reports that embankments have been breached in Domkal Chatterjeepara while in Bhangarkhal the storm surge crossed the embankment and flooded the island. In Kankandighi, brick embankments broke in 3 different places. The PBKMS field center in Raidighi has been completely destroyed and PBKMS activist Namita Halder had to find shelter for the night of the storm.  

In Kultali, PBKMS members Purnachandra Sith and Deepak Mondal reported embankment breaches in 5 panchayats; Moipith, Bhubaneshwari, Deulbari-Debipur, Kaikhali, and Purba Gurguria. Purnchandra Sith says that a strange thing happened with the rain this time that he has not seen before. In his village of Baikunthapur in Moipith the leaves of all the vegetation have turned black and so did the pond waters. Maya Das, member of a self help group, told us that there were no broken embankments in Gopalganj G.P. but a lot of wind damage. 

School submerged in Bhubaneshwari, Kultali

Flooding in Kultali

Flooding in Kultali

Flooding in Kultali

Flooding in Kultali

Wind damage is extensive in Mathurapur-1 too where there was no flooding. Jaynagar 2 to the east though is next to a river and saw flooding by saline water by storm surges that overflowed over embankments.

In North 24 Parganas, we have not been able to get in touch with activists in Hingalganj, Sandeshkhali-1 and Minakhan. Barun Das in Sandeshkhali-2 reported embankment breaches in Atapur and extensive damage to houses in Durgamandap.  PBKMS North 24 Paraganas center in Hasnabad has broken because of the winds during the cyclone. The activists in the center Suchitra Mondal and Swapan Haldar have no way to charge their phones and are preserving their battery for emergencies. Today, we spoke to them briefly. They said they had only managed to contact people only in 3 or 4 villages but the widespread damage to homes and fields is clear. They are calling an emergency meeting on Tuesday after Eid and will begin relief distribution immediately after. 

Homes broken in Durgamandap, Sandeshkhali-2

PBKMS has immediately turned its focus to relief work in 4 blocks of North 24 Parganas (Hasnabad, Minakha, Sandeshkhali 1 and Sandeshkhali 2) and 9 blocks of South 24 Parganas (Basanti, Gosaba, Joynagar 2, Kultali, Mathurapur 1, Mathurapur 2, Namkhana, Patharpratima and Sagar). Immediate relief work involves:

• Providing chlorine and bleaching powder to clean waters sources and surroundings in 263 villages 
•  Providing water purification tablets for 27,000 families in 263 villages to ensure that they have safe drinking water
• Providing Tarpaulin sheets to community members for 13,500 families with badly damaged houses

Once immediate relief is complete, PBKMS will work with marginal farmers to reclaim their land from saline water encroachment and then provide saline-resistant paddy seeds. Agricultural training on use of the plant and seeds will be provided to 2,700 farmers in partnership with the Save the Rice campaign. 

What will this Eid be like for Hasnabanu Laskar surveying the devastation to her home and lands after Amphan in Deulbari, Kultali?

***Compiled using phone updates from PBKMS activists by Aahana Ganguly (volunteer) and Kanai Haldar (state committee member)