important questions for ch=6 weathering the storm in Erasma class9
Answers
Answer:
Question 1.
How long did the cyclone last? How did Prashant and his friend’s family spend the stormy night?
Answer:
The cyclone continued for almost thirty six hours. They spent the night sitting on the roof of the house in the open, because water had filled into the house.
Question 2.
Describe the scene that met Prashant’s horrified eyes in the morning at Ersama?
Answer:
It was a devastating sight. A raging, deadly brown sheet of water covered everything as far as the eye could see. Only a few fractured cement houses still stood. Bloated human corpses and animal carcasses floated in every direction.
Question 3.
Why did the two days seem like two years to Prashant?
Answer:
As he sat on the rooftop of his friend’s damaged house, unable to venture back home through the rain and flooded roads, he felt helpless and worried about his family back in his village. He was so keen to return to them that the two days seemed like two years to him.
Question 4.
Why did Prashant’s heart sink on reaching his village?
Answer:
His heart sank on seeing the extent of damage that his village had sustained. He saw only the remains of the roof of his house in place of the house. Some of the family belongings were caught in the nearby branches of trees. His family was nowhere to be seen.
Question 5.
Why did Prashant decide to step in and lead the villagers?
Answer:
Prashant realised that the people at the shelter were being engulfed by a deathly grief and there wasn’t enough food for the survivors. He also realised that someone had to show the people a way out of the situation and gain control over their feelings and emotions.
Question 6.
How did Prashant’s wounded spirit heal?
Answer:
It healed because he was so busy making sure that the victims were taken care of by various government agencies and NGOs that he had no time to worry about his own loss and pain.
Question 7.
What havoc had the super cyclone wrecked in the lives of the people of Orissa?
Answer:
The super cyclone caused great damage and destruction, leaving hundreds of men, women, children and animals dead or injured. It blew away houses, brought down trees and wiped out entire villages. The whole area was submerged in water. Family members were separated and it left behind many orphans and widows. In addition, people had to go without food for days together.
Question 8.
How has Prashant, a teenager, been able to help the people of his village?
Answer:
Prashant took over the responsibility of leading the village. He was instrumental in organising the survivors into groups to cook, clean, and rebuild the village from scratch. He supervised the building of shelters and made sure that people who were wounded and injured received adequate medical help.
He also made sure that the orphans and widows were not packed off to impersonal foster care at government institutions, but resettled them in their own community, in new foster families made up of widows taking care of the orphans. He also organised cricket matches and other sports events to bring some joy into the lives of the children and persuaded the women to work in the food-for-work programme started by an NGO.
Question 10.
Why did Prashant and the other volunteers resist the plan to set up institutions for orphans and widows? What alternatives did they consider?
Answer:
Prashant and the other volunteers were aware of the stigma attached to being sent to the government institutions, and the loneliness that the widows would have to suffer there. Similarly, the orphans would have to live a life away from their roots, at the mercy of people who would not be sensitive to their emotional needs. To solve this problem, they came up with the brilliant idea of creating foster families where the childless widows would care for the orphaned children, thereby fulfilling their mutual emotional needs.
Question 11.
Do you think Prashant is a good leader? Do you think young people can get together to help people during natural calamities?
Answer:
Undoubtedly, Prashant is a born leader, which he proves by helping the people of Kalikuda village. He helps them to literally rise from the debris of a super cyclonic storm that had almost wiped out the whole village. He leads by example, selflessly identifying the most urgent needs and working to fulfil them. In the process, he puts aside his own grief and suffering, in trying to find relief and help for the other survivors.
He gauges the falling spirits of the village people and gets them to work manually to remove the debris, rebuild structures, and ensure that the people get something to eat. In a bid to help his people, he even forgets about his own loss, pain and grief. He finds a brilliant solution for the care of those left widowed or orphaned, by creating foster families with childless widows looking after orphaned children. From his example, we can see that it is possible for young people to work together and make a huge difference to the entire community in situations like natural calamities.