Ahmedabad : Early warnings, accurate identification of vulnerable areas and timely evacuations helped India to avert major casualties from cyclone Biparjoy, which battered the west coast near Pakistan late on Thursday, authorities said.
Biparjoy, which means ‘calamity’ in Bengali, hit the state of Gujarat with speeds of up to 125 kph (78 mph), blowing roofs off houses and uprooting trees and electricity poles.
Yet the only deaths recorded were those of two shepherds who died while trying to prevent their cattle from being swept away hours before the cyclone made landfall.
In 1998, a major storm in Gujarat killed about 4,000 people, according to local media, while in 2021, close to 100 people died in an ‘extremely severe cyclone’ named Tauktae.
“Early identification of areas that were likely to be impacted by the cyclone and timely evacuation of people living within 10 km of the coasts are the biggest reasons” for low casualties, said Kamal Dayani, a senior Gujarat official.
