25 years of super cyclone: How one fateful day left hundreds of orphans and widows in two coastal districts of Odisha

Children and women who lost their families and husbands are still inflicted with emotional and psychological scars
25 years of super cyclone: How one fateful day left hundreds of orphans and widows in two coast districts of Odisha
Bharat Maiti of Jhatipari village with his mother DebashreePhoto: Ashis Senapati
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As Odisha observed the 25th anniversary of the cyclone that killed around 10,000 people on October 29, 1999, in the coastal districts of Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara, scars have yet to heal for the orphans even after homes have been rebuilt.

The seaside Jhatipari village under Japa Gram Panchayat of the worst-hit Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur district had accounted for around 315 human casualties out of 850 residents.

Bharat Maiti of Jhatipari village lost his father Chanchal and two brothers in the gale.

 “I and my mother Debashree were staying in our maternal uncle’s house at Ramatara village on that fateful day due to which we survived. Now, I run a grocery shop in Jhatibari,” said 36-year-old Maiti.

Maiti told Down To Earth (DTE) he has still not got over the heartbreaking loss inflicted by the super cyclone. “My widowed mother Debashree faced many challenges, including emotional and psychological difficulties, financial pressures and anxiety. But she never neglected me,” he said.

“Each day, I hear the roaring sound of the sea from our house. The sea is beautiful. But I do not know why it gobbled up our village 25 years back,” added Bharat.

“Many people advised us not to live in Jhatipari as it is close to the sea. But we are determined not to leave our village.  The government and many organisations did many developmental works after the super cyclone,” Debashree, 65, the widowed mother of Bharat told DTE.

Thirty-three year-old Utkal Maiti of Dhobei village under Japa Gram Panchayat lost his parents and elder sister in the 1999 super cyclone. He was adopted by the SOS Children’s Village in Bhubaneswar in December 1999 as he had become an orphan.

“I obtained a Master’s degree in Social Work from a private institution in Bhubaneswar. Now, I am working as a coordinator with Action Aid, a non-profit in Bhubaneswar. Three years back, I got married. Now we have a son,” said Utkal.

“It was around 4 in the afternoon on October 29, 1999 when I suddenly saw a huge wall of water — at least 22 feet high — racing towards our seaside village. Within a second, the giant sea wave devoured the whole village.  My father Uttam, mother Sabitri and four-year-old sister Ambika perished.  I managed to grab my sister’s hand but the wave was too powerful. Slowly, her hand began to slip away from mine and the sea dragged her away before my eyes. I could not find the bodies of any of my family members. For the past 25 years I have found it difficult to smile. It is a day I can never forget. I was saved because I managed to cling to a coconut tree,” he narrated.

Utkal spends a few days each month in his village with my wife and son. “Death snatched my family 25 years ago. But now it is beautiful. I always remember my parents and sister who perished in this village,” said Utkal.

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25 years of super cyclone: How one fateful day left hundreds of orphans and widows in two coast districts of Odisha

The cyclone also left behind many widows who rebuilt their lives with help from the government and their relatives.

Annapurna Badoi and her five–year-old son Raju of Dhobei village survived 25 years ago. But Harihar, her husband, died. She subsequently remarried Santosh, her husband’s younger brother in 2001.

Behulla Jena of Dhobei village who lost her husband in the super cyclone
Behulla Jena of Dhobei village who lost her husband in the super cyclonePhoto: Ashis Senapati

“That night changed our life. We were a happy family. My husband Harihar was a farmer. We had everything. The violent sea consumed our village. I lost my husband, in-laws and two sisters-in- law. I and my son Raju survived as we were putting up in a pucca house,” said Annapurna.

She spent many traumatised days after the untimely deaths of her husband and other relatives.

Dhobei is so close to the sea that the tidal wave levelled it 25 years ago. “The mound of dead bodies and broken fishing boats which choked it after the super cyclone is a horrible memory for me,” added Annapurna.

Haladhar Mandal of Dhobei lost his father Jatadhari, mother Tapoi and two younger brothers in the super cyclone.

“I was just 10 when the tidal waves killed my parents. Now I run a fish business in the village. The super cyclone changed my life. My maternal uncle at Kujang did everything for me. Time is a great healer for me,” said Haladhar.

The super cyclone also brought survivors together in some cases.

Lalatendu Maiti of Sandhakuda, a fishing village near the port of Paradip, lost his parents and two brothers in the super cyclone.  The tidal waves also killed Bijay Maiti of Dahibara village. Dipanjali Maiti, the widow of Bijay, and her four-year-old daughter Rani survived by sitting on the roof of a thatched house.

“I clasped my daughter on the roof of a thatched house which we saved our lives. After the death of my husband, I refused to remarry. Seven years ago, I married off my only daughter Rani to Lalatendu Maiti of Sandhakuda village who lost his parents in the super cyclone. Now, Lalatendu stays with us,” said Dipanjali.

But even after 25 years, Dipanjali mourns the death of her husband Bijay who will never return.

“My husband Narayan Jena, a fisherman of Dhobei, was washed away in the tidal waves. But as luck would have it, I survived along with my two sons and two daughters by clasping bamboo clumps,” said Behulla (62), the widow of Narayan.

“I am still grappling with the emotional aftermath even 25 years after the super cyclone,” added Behulla

Biraja Pati, a social worker from Kendrapara, said it is hard to believe it was almost 25 years ago that killer tidal waves caused the death of around 10,000 people and left millions homeless and traumatised across Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara.

“The hardest-hit were the villagers of Erasama block and the fishing villages in Paradip of Jagatsinghpur district and the seaside villages of Rajnagar and Mahakalapada blocks in Kendrapara district,” Pati added.

Sambit Rout, additional district magistrate (ADM), Jagatsinghpur, however expressed hope for the future.

“Twenty-five years ago, the cyclone took hundreds of lives and changed the coastal areas forever. Finally, the tide is beginning to turn. Coastal areas are being rebuilt, livelihoods are returning, and life in general is improving for many survivors of the 1999 super cyclone,” he said.  

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