By Sujata Jena, SS.CC.

Trivandrum: Cyclone Ockhi has come and gone but it has left many families under trauma and shock.

The air of the coastal belt of Southern India of Kerala is now filled with the howling and crying of the distressed family members of the missing fishermen.

Cyclone Ockhi was the most intense tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea since Cyclone Megh in 2015. Ockhi was the third and strongest storm of the 2017 North Indian Ocean cyclone season.

It claimed unnumbered lives in Kerala and Tamil Nadu causing death and severe damages in the lives and properties of the families of matsya tozhirali.

The Government officials have said that 33,000 people in Kerala and 2,800 in Tamil Nadu have been affected by the cyclone so far.

The Federal government said 39 people have lost their lives and another 167 are missing after Cyclone Ockhi engulfed parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. These figures are not certained.

Bodies are kept for DNA test as these are not identified or identifiable. They are eaten up by big fish. Among those survived by the rescue vessels are admitted in the Medical College and General Hospital, Trivandrum. Their lives are at stake.

Ockhi originated from an area of disturbed weather near Sri Lanka on 29 November. For the following three days Kerala and Tamil Nadu witnessed a strong wind with the pace 65-70 kmph when cyclone crossed.

In certain families, they have lost two to four members.

Even after eight days passed after the cyclone many of the families are still on the harbors of Vizhinjam, Pulluvila, Toothur waiting in hope for the return of their missing members. The Government has warned them not to go for fishing. Yet the Government has not come up with an alternative as relief for their survival in many places.

In some places they are kept under relief camp. They eat when people bring food for them.

Yeshudas from Chinnatohzai,Thootor district was swimming for two days on the sea along with other five of his relatives. By the time he managed to get into a rescue boat he was left with just one. Among those drowned are a young boy and his father.

“Our people have great capacity; they usually reach as far as Omen of Soudi Arab for fishing, we still hope that the missing folk would return back,” said Father Shaban, parish priest of Chinnatohzai.

It is observed that the government disaster management machinery of mishandling Ockhi fall broadly in three categories.

First, that the warning was delayed; second, that the warning was ineffective because it could not be conveyed to hundreds of fisher-folk who already out into the sea; and third, that the rains quickly turned to flooding.

When the call comes from above, we may not even have time to say goodbye. The fish vending women who lost their husbands and loved ones need our compassionate presence which is more than just feeling sorry.

There is a growing tendency of giving up life, and attempt at suicide in some of them.

Means for survival is urgent as well as their emotional crisis management support seems very vital before some relatives left behind turned into be mentally challenged.