Cyclone Fani caused loss of over Rs 9,000 crore in Odisha; 1.6 crore people affected

Cyclone Fani caused a loss of an estimate Rs 9,336.26 crore in Odisha, a senior official said on Thursday. Cyclone Fani made landfall in Odisha at a wind speed of about 200 kmph on May 3.

According to the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) BP Sethi, Cyclone Fani caused a total loss of Rs 6643.63 crore to public properties and around Rs 2,692.63 crore is required for relief measures for the affected people.

"The total loss to public properties and requirement of funds for relief measures have been estimated at Rs 9,336.26 crore," B P Sethi said. Sethi further stated that the Odisha government is now seeking monetary aide of Rs 5,227.68 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to meet the expenditure on the ongoing relief. Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government as of now has floated Rs 1,357.14 crore to various districts and departments towards disaster response, Sethi added.

According to the examination, Cyclone Fani devastated as many as 20,367 villages in 14 coastal districts of Odisha. Besides, the cyclone affected 1.6 crore people and damaged 1.88 lakh hectares of agricultural land.

"A total of 5,56,761 houses have either been fully or severely or partially damaged in the cyclone while 64 people lost their lives. Twelve persons received grievous injuries and the cyclone killed 2,650 large animals, 3,631 small animals and 53,26,905 poultry birds," Sethi said, quoting the final damage assessment report.

Last month, on May 12 to May 15, an inter-ministerial central team visited Odisha and conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the damages caused due to the cyclone. A preliminary report of damage amounting to Rs 11,942.68 crore was shared with the central team.

Meanwhile, the State Bank of India (SBI) has provided more than 11,000 loans so far for rehabilitation and resumption of livelihood activities of people in districts affected by cyclone Fani in Odisha. SBI's Managing Director (Retail & Digital Banking) P K Gupta said the bank has also provided over 8,000 agri loans and more than 1300 loans to Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the cyclone-hit areas.

SBI has also restructured 200 SME and house building loans, he said adding that the bank has proposed to provide loans to 500 fishermen for purchasing boats and nets.

(With PTI inputs)

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