write a essay on amphan in sanskrit
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With COVID-19 spreading rapidly in the State, the last thing that West Bengal needed was a super cyclone wreaking havoc in the coastal districts and the State capital Kolkata. The super cyclone Amphan, the biggest natural calamity to ever hit the State, tore through several districts on May 20, leaving a trail of death and enormous destruction. Originating in the Bay of Bengal, Amphan crashed upon the coastal belt of the State near Sagar Island at a speed of 155-165 km per hour, with gust wind speed going up to 185 km per hour, along with very heavy rain, and proceeded on a trail of devastation through Kolkata on its journey into Bangladesh.
As of May 22, at least 86 people were killed, lakhs of homesteads broken, thousands of trees uprooted, infrastructure damaged, agricultural land and crops destroyed, ruining the lives of lakhs of people who were already in the face of a major financial crisis due to the nationwide lockdown. According to preliminary estimates, around 10.5 lakh houses have been destroyed and more than 1.36 crore people have been badly hit. Overall, around 60 per cent of the people in the State have been affected by the cyclone. The death count may rise once the waters start receding.
In Bardhaman district alone, where the impact of the storm was not as severe as in certain other districts, 30,000 hectares of paddy has been damaged, along with 12,000 hectares sesame and 5,000 hectares of vegetables. According to reports, the district administration has said around Rs.250 crore worth of crops have been destroyed by the cyclone. Large scale crop damage has been also reported in Paschim Medinipur, Howrah, Hooghly and North and South 24 Paraganas.
According to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s initial estimate, the total damage caused by the cyclone is around Rs.1 lakh crore. She said Bengal had never seen a disaster of such magnitude. Calling it a “bigger disaster” than the COVID pandemic that is infecting thousands of people in the State, Mamata said “area after area have been destroyed”. The worst-hit districts in the State are North and South 24 Paraganas, Kolkata, Hooghly, Purbo and Paschim Medinipur, and Howrah.
Nadia and parts of Bardhaman have also been badly affected. If it were not for the timely evacuation action undertaken by the State administration, many lives would undoubtedly have been lost in the storm. By the evening of May 19, around five lakh people were already shifted from their houses and put up in cyclone shelters.
As Amphan made its landfall, gigantic waves could be seen crashing upon the coastline at Digha in Purbo Medinipur, and a large number of dams in the Sunderbans and the coastal districts broke down as water gushed forth submerging villages. Mighty trees, bent low by the wind, snapped like twigs and fell across the roads and on buildings and boundary walls. “If Aila (the devastating storm of 2009 that ravaged the State) was 10, then this is 110. I have heard that a similar cyclone had hit the region in 1737 in which thousands had lost their lives,” said Mamata.