Cyclone Amphan is worse than Coronavirus: Mamata

Kolkata: "It is a big disaster and its quantum cannot be expressed in words. All south Bengal districts including Kolkata, North and South 24-Parganas were finished with embankments, bridges, roads and thousands of houses getting completely damaged as the cyclone passed through districts one after the other at an average speed of 140 km per hour before proceeding to Bangladesh," said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking support from all quarters for restoration work forgetting politics.

Terming the situation to be more disastrous than the Coronavirus pandemic, she said: "The situation is such that I cannot even think of how to carry out the restoration work."

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and general secretary of the party Priyanka Gandhi called Banerjee and took stock of the situation.

Banerjee maintained: "The state secretariat too was heavily damaged. So we can asses the level of devastation that took place in the remaining parts of the state. We had evacuated around 5 lakh people in a short notice of two days and it might have helped in saving lives of many though we are yet to receive all information regarding the total number of deaths and damage caused as the connectivity has completely snapped."

Stating that it would take at least three to four days to assess the quantum of damage, the CM said it would not be less than a few thousand crores and it can go up to Rs 1 lakh crore as well. "I would appeal to the Centre not to look into it politically. Instead, it should be considered on humanitarian grounds," Banerjee said.

Banerjee maintained that the migrant labourers returning from other states will not have anywhere to go as a lot of their homes had been damaged in the cyclone that diverted the route after landfall as predicted. "We had never expected this level of disaster. Agriculture sector was badly affected with damage of crops. The power and water supply system has completely collapsed. Let us hope that we can overcome this disaster with support and blessings of all," Banerjee said, adding the situation has turned worse as the state government now needed to fight simultaneously against COVID-19, migrant issues and now the disaster caused by the cyclone when economic activities had already nosedived due to the lockdown.

"It will take three to four days to assess the total quantum of damage caused and the task force headed by Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha will hold a meeting tomorrow to plan initiation of relief and restoration work at the earliest," she said.

Stating that she had not witnessed such devastation in her lifetime, Banerjee said: "There is almost nothing left in areas including Ganga Sagar, Sunderbans, Minakha, Basirhat, Bongaon, Habra and Bhangar. I would urge people those are evacuated to flood centres to continue staying at the same as they may not find anything left of their houses even if they return to their places."

Beyond anyone's imagination, information on the damage of property was received from districts including Bankura and Purulia.

"There will be heavy rainfall in North Bengal from tomorrow and it again will further worsen the situation," the Chief Minister said.

She urged Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Seva Ashram to undertake the relief work.