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Orissa cyclone
relief effort See also the full story, photos, proposal to rebuild schools, and how to donate Sri Aurobindo Relic Center Rayerpur: Except for the Samadhi-Pitham, which is a concrete building housing the relics, everything is destroyed. No trees and not a single thatched house have remained. This devastation is representative of what you will find all over Orissa now. Matrubhaban, Sri Aurobindo Marg, Cuttack: This main center had multi-dimensional operations with the Sri Aurobindo Institute of higher Studies and Research, including 1200 student school, Sri Aurobindo Mahila Pathachakra (womens section), Medical Association, Engineers Association, Ashram Store. Massive damage to the buildings and campus amounts to over 46 laks ($115,000). Proposal to rebuild schools Nagpur Relics Center, Balikuda District, Jagat Singpur: Here was a school for about 200 students, but now the hostels and classrooms have collapsed so the students will have to have class outside-- during the extreme heat of summer season there will be much difficulty as there is not a single tree left that the kids could sit under and later on the monsoon rains will come. Sri Aurobindo Relics Center, Ganailo, Jagatsingpur, Cuttack: This spiritual center in one of the foremost Centers in Orissa. Main buildings are severely damaged or demolished. There are about 360 students in the center-run school. This institution was fully damaged and the conditions are the same as in the Nagpur School. The damages are estimated at over 31 lakhs ($77,500). Sri Aurobindo Relics Center and Purnanga Sikhyh Dendra, Jagatsingpur, Orissa: This center's asbestos roof and surrounding thatched houses were taken away by the wind. There was a construction going on at the time which fully collapsed. 150 students are studying there. Matrigoam, Kusanga, Paradeep, Orissa: Here is the main point where the cyclone has hit first. Matrugoam is a branch of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It is an ashram like that of Dalijoda, consisting of 150 acres of land donated by a devotee of the ashram. About 6 sadhaks are living there. Sometimes they supply potatoes to the Pondicherry Ashram dining hall. This area was fully covered with sand and water because it is only 2 km from the sea. When the first sea water came inside the land about 500 villages were totally inundated. The whole landscape looks empty, no one would think that there were any villages there before. We saw only one group of about 4 or 5 members alive in a village. Sri Aurobindo Srikshetra Trust (Dalijora Ashram) - It is unbearable situation to see face to face. Millions and millions of rupees of wealth damaged. Everywhere there is fear and depression and anxiety. People do not know what to do for their future; they have no shelter, no food, and no work. Icchapur Integral School -Rebuilding work is starting with the school which is about 12 kilometers from Rayerpur. This is a very poor village school of about 180 children which gets no government subsidy. The entire compound was destroyed or severely damaged in the storm. The teachers work at absolute substandard wages and the school runs totally on donations from devotees. The fallen trees have to be cleared, a new tube well to be dug. An existing building will be repaired and re-roofed; a main hall will be constructed with possibility for a second level to be added in future. The roof will be concrete so that the building will be cyclone proof. A sadhak from Pondicherry is going to oversee the start of the construction and a trustee from the Rayerpur center will oversee the work to its completion. As many local laborers will be employed as possible to give the village some earning and hope. The Integral School at Bhubaneswar (Sri Aurobindo Institute of Integral Education). The Super-Cyclone on 28-29 October 1999 hovered over Bhubaneswar for nearly 30 hours, and lashed all trees and buildings in the Khandagiri residential Campus of this school.
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