The United Nations in its annual ‘The Natural Disasters in Asia and the Pacific: 2014 Year in Review’ termed the Hudhud Cyclone of Visakhapatnam as the second costliest disaster in 2014 in Asia-Pacific region causing $ 11 billion. However the report heaped praises on Chandrababu Naidu’s government for its disaster preparedness and “timely” evacuation that saved many lives.
The report said: “The local government made arrangements to shift half a million people…Timely and massive evacuation saved lives.” It is known that Chandrababu Naidu shifted to Visakhapatnam and worked out of a bus for several days monitoring the rehabilitation and rescue works personally.
However the irony is that UNO estimated the losses of Hudhud at $ 11 Billion which is approximately 66000 Crore. The Central government had not even estimated half of the loss and gave a paltry 680 Crore help to the state. Its high time Modi government wakes up!
