Two weeks after the super cyclone hit the east state of Orissa, an official press release issued by November 11 put the death toll at 7,616. The release added that over 193,000 cattle deaths had been reported and 818,277 houses damaged. Air-dropping of food packets would be continued in the cyclone-ravaged areas of the state till Friday and further action would be taken after reviewing the situation. The central government said 20,282 tons of rice, 1,818 kilo liters (KL) of petrol, 4,040 KL of diesel, 7,583 KL of kerosene oil and 7,200 liquid petrol gas cylinders had been supplied to the affected areas. Out of 33,810 tube wells requiring disinfection, 27,381 tube wells were disinfected till Wednesday and more rounds of disinfection would continue in most severely affected areas to ensure water quality, the press release said. The latest reports said about 11,178,000 people and 1.1 million hectares of crop were affected in the worst cyclone of the century in the area. |