With a landslide burying communities in G. Udayagiri and another cyclone potentially bearing down on Odisha's coast, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi convened an emergency high-level review at the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office on Saturday, October 31 — demanding war-footing rescue operations and zero tolerance for misinformation.

Seismic Detectors and Navy Helicopters at G. Udayagiri

The most urgent front is the landslide site at G. Udayagiri in Kandhamal district, where the Indian Navy has airlifted an advanced 'Seismic Life Detection Unit' by helicopter to locate survivors buried under debris. This technology — capable of detecting faint vibrations from trapped individuals — signals just how desperate the search has become in terrain that road vehicles cannot reach.

On the ground, a joint rescue column comprising NDRF teams, Fire Services, the Special Operations Group (SOG), and Indian Navy personnel is operating on what the Chief Minister's Office described as a 'war-footing basis' in the most inaccessible pockets of the affected zone. The multi-agency coordination mirrors the model Odisha has refined over decades — most visibly during Cyclone Fani in 2019, when more than 1.2 million people were evacuated with minimal casualties.

Chain Pulley System and East Coast Railway Join the Evacuation Push

For communities cut off by washed-out roads, the state has mobilised a Chain Pulley System with assistance from East Coast Railway to physically move people across flooded or collapsed terrain to safer ground. It is a rare deployment that underscores how severely the cyclone has disrupted normal movement in parts of the state.

CM Majhi has directed the Energy Department and other line departments to restore electricity, roads, and drinking water on priority in all cyclone-hit areas. These three utilities — power, connectivity, and clean water — are the first dominoes in any post-disaster recovery, and their absence compounds every other risk from disease to displacement.

Preparing for the Next Storm While Fighting the Last One

Even as rescue teams work through the wreckage of the current cyclone, the review meeting turned one eye toward a fresh cyclonic threat that meteorological agencies have flagged. Shelter facilities are being readied, pre-emptive evacuations from high-risk coastal and low-lying zones have been ordered, and stockpiles of dry rations, potable water, and medicines are being positioned at strategic points.

Odisha's vulnerability is structural: the state sits squarely on the northern Bay of Bengal cyclone track and has faced repeated severe storms. The 1999 Super Cyclone — which killed more than 10,000 people — drove the state to build one of India's most institutionalised disaster-response architectures, including the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority. That architecture is now being stress-tested simultaneously on two fronts: active rescue and pre-emptive preparation.

Cracking Down on Rumours Alongside the Cyclone

CM Majhi has also directed all administrative departments to supply complete, verified, and official information to the media in real time — and to fact-check and rebut rumours and misleading reports without delay. In a crisis where panic can cost lives, the order to control the information environment is as operationally significant as any rescue directive.

With seismic detectors scanning rubble, Navy helicopters threading through storm clouds, and shelter registers being filled ahead of a possible second cyclone, Odisha is running two disaster timelines at once — and the next 48 to 72 hours will determine how well that dual-track response holds.