Puri, May 5: After Cyclone Fani, one of the severe cyclonic storm to batter the Indian subcontinent in decades, caused a havoc in Odisha after it made a landfall in Puri on Friday. In the wake of the destruction and damage caused due to the storm, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday urged people of the nation to donate online to help rebuild the state once again. "Odisha has been devastated by Cyclone Fani. Please help rebuild precious lives with your online contribution to Chief Minister Relief Fund at cmrfodisha.gov.in, Patnaik tweeted.

The Chief Minister said the houses completely damaged will be constructed under housing schemes. Loss of agricultural and horticultural crops & animal resources, fisheries will be assessed and compensated accordingly. He added saying that tree plantations will be taken up in mission mode soon after relief and restoration. Cyclone Fani: Rs 1000 Crore Relief for Fani Damage, Says PM Narendra Modi.

The death toll in Odisha caused due to Cyclone Fani jumped to 16 on Saturday. The government mounted a massive restoration work across 10,000 villages and 52 urban areas which were severely hit by the storm. The storm later weakened and entered West Bengal on Saturday night, after which it moved to coastal areas of Bangladesh. A total of nine people were killed in Bangladesh after rains lashed several parts of the nation.

Here's How You Can Donate:

  1. Individuals wanting to make an online contribution to cyclone-hit people of Odisha need to visit Chief Minister Relief Fund - cmrfodisha.gov.in.

  2. The Account numberon which individuals are required to send the money is 006101057842. The IFSC Code is ICIC0000061.

  3. Users can also make contribution via UPI: The code is "ODISHACMRF.FANI@ICICI"

  4. Users can also donate using Paytm App to assist relief and rehabilitation efforts in Odisha. Users can go to Paytm App and click on Odisha Relief icon and contribute.

The cyclone, with wind speed of up to 200 km per hour pounded the states coastal region, massively damaging property and disrupting flight operations, communication, rail and road connectivity. On Saturday, Patnaik informed that a record 1.2 million people were evacuated in 24 hours claiming to have carried out the "biggest human evacuation in history".

He further added saying that Cyclone Fani was one of the rarest summer cyclones and was the first one in 43 years to hit Odisha and one of the three to hit in the last 150 years. "Because of this rarity, tracking and prediction were challenging. Till 24 hours of landfall of the cyclone -- one was not sure about the trajectory it was going to take," Patnaik said.

Here's the tweet:

The UN agency for disaster reduction commended the Indian Meteorological Department's "almost pinpoint accuracy" of early warnings of Cyclone Fani. The UN agency praised India for minimising loss of life due to the cyclonic storm and said it helped authorities conduct a well-targeted evacuation plan and minimise the loss of life as extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani made landfall near the coastal city of Puri.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 05, 2019 02:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).