Cyclone 'Biparjoy' brings back memories of past calamities Kutch faced

Cyclone 'Biparjoy' made landfall on the Kutch coast in Gujarat on Thursday. The extent of damage to agriculture, property, or even the loss of lives, if any, would be known only by the daybreak on Friday.

Calamities have been hitting Kutch quite often, but the resilience of the people in the area (also called Kutchi khameer), always helped them to be back on their feet.

'Biparjoy' brought memories of the cyclone of 1998 that hit Kandla and Saurashtra. An estimated 10,000 died then, with bodies of people found days after the cyclone was over.

Compared to 1998, the prediction systems are more advanced now, helping the authorities to shift people from the affected areas to safer places in shelter homes.

Then there was the earthquake of 2001, the epicenter of which was in Kutch. Thousands of people lost lives and hundreds were maimed.

Post the earthquake, the state witnessed a major political change. The then chief minister of Gujarat, Keshubhai Patel, was removed from office for his alleged failure to handle the post-quake situation. He was replaced by Narendra Modi late in 2001.

Sanjay Dave, a social analyst, who saw the cyclone of 1998 said lots of social, religious and non-profit organisations came for help and rehabilitation. According to him, the people of Kutch, a large number of whom are rich and settled in Mumbai and abroad, have a good bonding with their home district and try to give back to society in some way or other.

Kutch has also been witnessing regular droughts, the last being about four to five years ago, said Manish Acharya, coordinator of Setu-Abhiyan, a network of organisations that came into being after the 2001 earthquake.

Acharya also acknowledges the tendency of the people of Kutch to give back to society.

Speaking about shifting people to safer places ahead of the cyclone, Acharya said the actual loss would be known only by Friday or so.

He said the people of Kutch had become used to drought. The problem aggravates especially for the cattle and the area sees migration. However, things have improved to some extent with Narmada waters reaching some areas of the largest district of Gujarat.