Serpentine queues for kerosene

Power had been restored to the Baramunda area, a new colony where the electricity system had suffered least damage, but most other areas were still without electricity. 8220;This is the first time since inception of this city that such a calamity has befallen us,8221; said Fanindra Behera, who has been living here since 1950.

Teams report more than 900 deaths

Iinitial reports trickling in from doctors in Orissa pegged the toll at 960, even as Union Health Minister N T Shanmugam on Thursday reviewed measures to contain disease outbreaks in the State.

According to the reports, a maximum of 373 deaths were reported from the worst-affected Jagatsinghpur district, followed by 227 in Puri.

UNICEF aid
UNICEF is sending 10 lakh packets of medical relief such as intravenous IV fluids, oral rehydration salts ORS, anti-diarrhoeals and chlorine tablets, while a stand-by contingency of 100 doctors is ready to fly to Orissa when needed.

Unicef has also agreed to send 1.5 million auto-destruct syringes while the IMA has directed its state branches to collect and supply drugs to the cyclone victims, officials said.

We told you, say NGOs
The unprecedented casualties inflicted by the cyclone in Orissa could have been minimised to a considerable extent, had the government resorted to proper disaster management, various non-government organisations NGOs have said.

Ajay Kanchan, manager public affairs of Oxfam, a British NGO working on relief and rehabilitation operations in India for the past 35 years said three factors were primarily responsible for the enormous loss of men and material: faulty early warning mechanism, improper dissemination of information, delayed relief and rehabilitaion operations.

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