Cyclone Hudhud originated from a low pressure that formed in the Andaman Sea on October 6. It intensified into a Severe Cyclonic Storm on October 9. Shortly before landfall near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on October 12, Hudhud was at its peak strength. Thie cyclone has caused extensive damage to the city of Visakhapatnam and the neighboring districts of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam of Andhra Pradesh. Damages are estimated to be between INR10000 crore to INR70000 crore (US$11 billion) in Andhra Pradesh alone. At least 84 deaths have been confirmed so far with a majority of them from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
While most of us are lamenting about the terrible devastation wreaked by cyclone Hudhud, here are a bunch ofvolunteers who just came together one fine morning and started restoring order amid the chaos. Instead of being silent bystanders, they decided to reclaim their city from the vagaries of nature, and rebuild their beloved Vishakhapatnam.
The beach road in Vizag was in a dangerous condition, completely broken in many places. (Photo courtesy: Chada Sastry)
Several people including Nihar Yerubandi (the photographer) and his mom went on a personal voluntary work to clean up this area but they were short of enough hands. (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
Soon they had 100′s of people from all walks of life coming in and joining this movement which resulted in complete clearance of the road ahead of Jasti Square. (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
Women came out in droves to support the rebuilding of the road (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
Children were enthusiastic and energetic participants in the initiative (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
‘Big daddy’ came along to help the volunteers, thanks to the kindness of an unknown gentleman (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
The road slowly started getting a semblance of something safe and usable. (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
Finally a clean, safe and level road, made possible by just volunteers coming together! (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
The power lines have been wrecked across the city and here are people trying to restore the electricity cables. (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
Cops have also been helping out in the power restoration work, even though it is not part of their duty. Thanks to the efforts of all these people, power is up in a few pockets already. (Photo courtesy: Nihar Yerubandi)
Kudos to all the men, women and children who came out of the safety and comfort of their homes and adopted the entire city as their home, trying to make everything return to normalcy as soon as possible. If you want to help rebuild Vizag, just go out on the streets and start doing something. You might be taken for a surprise by people around you!
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