Word: orissa
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...members, who attack residential areas, raid banks and hijack cars. The crime wave, attributed to high levels of unemployment and the easy availability of small arms, has spread out of Nigeria's commercial capital to other cities. INDIA The Worst Monsoon for 50 Years The eastern state of Orissa was counting the cost of floods following two weeks of heavy monsoon rains. Nearly 100 people died and more than 1 million were left homeless in the worst monsoon floods to hit the state for 50 years. At least 160 people died in flash floods and mudslides in northern Pakistan, caused...
...October 1999, some 20,000 people died in a cyclone in Orissa. Entire villages were swept away, 2 million houses were destroyed, thousands of cattle were drowned. Tired and desperate survivors remained stranded on roofs and in trees for days. Politicians demanded rescue and relief, but in village after village journalists arrived first?and were greeted with outrage. As they pursued their stories, they were forced to hand out their personal supplies of biscuits and bottled water. One such journalist, Ruben Banerjee, the local correspondent of India Today magazine, has published The Orissa Tragedy (Books Today; 202 pages), an account...
...Unlike earthquakes or avalanches, a cyclone can be predicted. Meteorologists warned that a supercyclone was brewing in the Bay of Bengal three days before it hit. Giridhar Gamang, Chief Minister of Orissa, took unusual precautionary measures. According to Banerjee, he called in three powerful astrologers and kept a personal vigil as they appealed to the gods to deflect the storm. As frenzied winds snapped telecommunications and power lines, the pundits assured their boss he had little to fear. One said Gamang's stars would protect the state. Another predicted the cyclone would miraculously split into two, dodging Orissa. The third...
...Banerjee concludes that nothing was learned from the tragedy. There are still not enough cyclone shelters in the coastal state, houses aren't built any sturdier and no one has stockpiled emergency rations or even secured a satellite phone. And cyclones hit Orissa every year. The next one can be expected at any time...
Madonna began her rendering of "Ray of Light" by chanting sacred mantras from the Vedas (the ancient Hindu scriptures) and incorporated into the performance steps derived from the traditional dance form native to the Indian region of Orissa. As American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) write on their website, the Hindu theme and use of Hindu symbols continued throughout the performance...