It left 14 people dead but an efficient early warning system and mass evacuation in the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal helped save more than a million lives from one of the biggest cyclones that hit the country in the last 14 years. Over 12 million people could have been affected by the cyclone for which warnings came in five days prior. The cyclone, however, caused huge infrastructural destruction, affecting 90 lakh homes and paddy crop worth Rs. 2400 crore. The last cyclone in Odisha in 1999 killed 10,000 people.
This is a weekly roundup of important news from October 7-13. Also read last week's policy matters updates.