TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Japan is not the only country who is battered by massive storm in recent days. India's eastern coast around Andhra Pradesh have been hit by Tropical Cyclone Hudhud, which whipped up gusts up 200 kilometres per hour, and deposited torrential amounts of rain in the area since Sunday, October 12, 2014. A village on the coast have been obliterated, and plenty of cases of structural damages and electric power failures have been reported.
As quoted by the New York Times on Sunday, around 150,000 people have been evacuated to emergency shelters and schools since Saturday last week. However, plenty of residents chose to not heed the warnings and returned to seek shelter in their own homes.
Apart from Andhra Pradesh, the Visakhapatman area - where the cyclone first made landfall - have also suffered extensive damages. Five people were killed by debris from their collapsing homes and/or falling tree trunks.
"We don't really know how the situation is like over there. Around 70 percent of our communications grid have been destroyed. We advise those who are choosing not to evacuate to stay inside their homes - this is a serious storm," said Andra Pradesh's Chief Minister N. Chandrababa Naidu.
India's Meteorological Department (IMD) said that an incoming waves of 1-2 meters above the tidal breakwater will arrive tomorrow, which may cause floods and landslides in the low-lying coastal regions near Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram, and Srikakulam. "We will direct our aid and support to the search and rescue (SAR) operation in the stricken areas," said India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Over the years, India's coastal regions have been battered by a number of massive storms - including Cyclone Phailin last October, which forced the evacuation of 800,000 people from their homes. Furthermore, more than 100,000 residents died when a similar cyclone made landfall in the area 15 years ago.
RINDU P. HESTYA | THE NEW YORK TIMES