India estimates Amphan damages of £10bn
THE powerful cyclone that tore through West Bengal last week has caused a damage of `1 trillion (£10.5 billion) to infrastructure and crops, state officials said.
Neighbouring Bangladesh, which also fell in Cyclone Amphan’s path last Wednesday (20), initially said it had suffered a loss of 11 billion taka (£105 million). But this could rise, government officials said.
The two countries have lost at least 102 people in the cyclone, mostly because of house collapses and electrocution. More than three million people were evacuated before Amphan made landfall, preventing a large number of deaths.
The cyclone has affected more than 13 million people – some losing houses, crops and lands – and over 1.5 million houses have been damaged, two West Bengal government officials said.
In North 24 Parganas, a district in southern West Bengal, 700 villages were flooded and 80,000 people lost their homes, the Times of India reported.
Hundreds of thousands are in relief camps across the state, the officials said, amid concern that lax social distancing norms could fuel a spread of coronavirus cases.
In Kolkata, authorities struggled to remove debris from roads and clear trees that fell as the cyclone, packing winds of 133km per hour, pounded the city of 14 million for hours.
The cyclone also destroyed farmland in Bangladesh’s low-lying coastal areas, damage that will likely endanger livelihoods, non-profit ActionAid said.