Moments Supplementary Reader Chapter 6 Weathering The Storm In Ersama

Prashant was at his friend’s house when the storm struck Orissa. Prashant had to spend two nights on the open rooftop in the rain due to the flood. He survived by eating the coconuts from a tree that had fallen on the roof. However, his village people had to face the fury of the storm. They lost their houses and had to take shelter at the Red Cross shelter.

After the rain, Prashant saw a raging, deadly, brown sheet of water everywhere around him. A few fractured cement houses were the only things visible. Bloated animal carcasses and human corpses floated in the water. The trees including the huge ones had fallen down. Prashant felt worried about his family.

On his way back to his village, Prashant saw the havoc caused by the rain and the flood. He saw the villages swept away by the flood and the carcasses and corpses floating in the water. He had to wade through the water. He could see no house in any of the villages. It disappointed and despaired him. He started crying loudly.

Prashant’s family had been worried about him. When he did not return for days, they thought they had lost him. But when Prashant’s family found him alive at the Red Cross shelter, they were extremely happy. They took it to be ‘a miracle’ because it wasn’t easy to survive the rains and the flood.

Prashant could sense the feeling of a deathly grief settling fast upon the people in the shelter. They mourned for the people who died due to the flood and the property they lost. They also had nothing to eat. Prashant formed teams to resolve these problems. He also organised matches to lift their spirits.

There was acute shortage of food at the shelter. The children were hungry. The helicopters once dropped some food parcels but then did not come again. Prashant made the children lie on the ground with empty utensils on their stomachs. It very successfully conveyed the message to the authorities that they were hungry. Due to his efforts, the helicopters started dropping food regularly.

Prashant could sense not only the physical but the emotional and the psychological needs also. He made a separate shelter for the orphans. He encouraged women to look after the children. He further encouraged them to come out of the stigma. He organised some amusement activities to lighten up their lives. With his leadership quality, he managed to infuse a new life in them.

To improve the life in Orissa, the Government also decided to set up institutions for orphans and the women. Prashant resisted the plan as he felt these institutions would increase the stigma and loneliness in widows. Instead, he encouraged the foster families.

The super cyclone completely devastated the coastal Orissa. It was followed by heavy rains and floods. Together they gutted hundreds of houses, killing thousands.

He formed a group of youth and elders and together they helped themselves in arranging the food and cleaning the shelter and tending the injured ones.

The young people under Prashant’s command cleaned the shelter and tended to the injured. The elders helped them in arranging for food and other things. Merchants gave food. Women of Kalikudu looked after the orphans.

They feel that in such institutions women suffer from stigma and loneliness and children would grow up without love. So they consider the alternative of ‘setting foster families’.

Yes, Prashant definitely is a good leader. He organized people and raised their morale. He could get the ration dropped for them, encouraged windows to look after the orphans and to tend the indired. He also pleaded with the elders to become foster parents. Yes, young people can help people together during natural calamities.

On that day, a super cyclone with a speed of 350 km per hour hit the coastal areas of Orissa. It was followed by continuous heavy rains for two days. Raging ocean waves flooded Orissa. 

He formed a team of volunteers to clean the shelter of all the filth, urine, vomiting, and carcasses etc. He uplifted the spirits of the inhabitants emotionally, physically and psychologically.

He set up a polythene shelter for orphans, helped them resettle in their own societies through adoptions and foster families. He organised matches etc to help them recover.

He helped them by providing food and other basic needs. He made them work for NGOs and to look after orphans. He helped them set up foster families. He helped them emotionally and psychologically.

Preparing the Community for a Natural Disaster Under such changing global conditions, we can never be sure about the safety of our homes and families. Individuals should get together to form a community organization to fight the natural disasters. First of all, there should be a proper and correct warning system be it governmental or privately maintained. Through social awareness programmes and continuous, regular practice sessions all should be ready to evacuate the affected area. In a comparatively safe area i.e. a high plain vast ground to build up permanent safe shelters with the arrangement of all the basic necessities under them so that people of the community can stay there. We should attend the regular training camps, to know the signals and codes and to contact the governmental organisation to get relief. Besides, we should use such materials to build houses which can withstand the impact of cyclone (flood, earthquake). Buildings should be low rise on solid iron structure, with gap on the sides, made up of cement and brick. 

In the event of a natural calamity we all should rise up, should not get defeated but face the adverse conditions boldly and help others. Besides we should use our presence of mind and our other senses to find a safer and better way to survive. In any natural calamity, the basic needs of the people are the same - food to eat, shelter to live in, means to fight the cold, hygienic conditions, medical aid and hope for betterment. We need to console each other and fight together the grief and hopelessness. The people who suffer need someone to listen to, understand and help them emotionally, physically and psychologically.

Adversity is a Better Teacher Than Good Fortune.
There is no doubt that adversity is a better teacher than good fortune. Under the greatest adversity, there exists the greatest potential for doing good - both for oneself and others. Adversities often push us into new direction. The greatest advantage of adversity is that it shakes us out of our complacency. It brings before us greater challenges and teaches how to deal with them. It gives a ‘wake-up call’. So every adversity is an opportunity and not a curse or punishment. Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all, but the things that cannot be tom, that we see ourselves as we really are.