India faces another perilous storm- Amphan Cyclone

While some nations are facing huge economic down-slides, India has other battles to fight along with containing the Covid-19 disease outbreak 

The recent Amphan cyclone that has rocked both Bangladesh and India, but has wrecked more havoc in Bangladesh. As if the terror of keeping one's social distance and being home bound was not enough, that the state of West Bengal (India) was rocked by savage rain and winds yesterday.

It was a harrowing experience for the common man, who was left without a roof on top of his head, and the state government was thrown in deep waters to find safe haven for the evacuates, while ensuring they could maintain social distancing protocols. If one was to look at the pictures of makeshift sheds, it was sad to see how scared the common public was looking.      

The storm is the first super cyclone to form in the Bay of Bengal since 1999. Though its winds have now weakened, it is still classified as a very severe cyclone. There is a Buddhist saying that comes from Shakyamuni's Lotus Sutra; it states that when the land is full of people whose hearts are amass greed, anger and stupidity, no one can save that land from natural disasters and calamities. 

Has India and its regions being overdoing the poisons of greed, anger and stupidity? Have we reached a point of saturation where nature does not want to endure us and our selfish use of its resources? 

The cyclone is going to reach till Bhutan, according to leading meteorologists in the country. So, maybe it is not just India that is to be blamed to be handling nature's wrath. 

According to BBC newsbits, Amphan began hitting the Sundarbans, a mangrove area around the India-Bangladesh border home to four million people on Wednesday afternoon, before carving north and north-eastwards towards Kolkata, a historic city that was the capital of the British Raj. It was moving with winds gusting up to 185km/h (115mph). Amphan is expected to move further into Bangladesh on Thursday, and later Bhutan. Meteorologists warn there could be up to 300mm more rainfall to come, which could increase the risk of flooding and deadly mudslides.

Over 5200 houses are said to have been damaged in North amounting to as many as 24 Parganas district's comprising Minakhan, Haroa, Basirhat Hingalgunj, Hasnabad areas due to the strong winds according to West Bengal officials estimates. In order to prevent any electrocution and loss of lives, power supply had to be cut off in North and South of the 24 Parganas of West Bengal as per Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's orders. 

It seems nature has its way of creating a balance. While West Bengal was proudly managing low contraction numbers in Covid-19 cases, it has also paid a price by loss of infrastructure and human capital at the hands of the cyclone. The news of low contraction numbers is being said to be misleading and various media reports say that transparency has been missing in the administration sharing facts with the Center.

The ones bearing the brunt are always the common man.  With India now hitting its summer months and onset of monsoons, the cyclone will only open doors to other mosquito and flu like outbreaks among the people. The West Bengal will have to move in quickly and do the needful, unless they are looking at losing lives the whole year long.