Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 17, 2018: The death toll in Cyclone Titli and subsequent floods has mounted to 52, while the loss suffered due to the calamity has been pegged at around Rs 2,200 crore, the Odisha government said Wednesday.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced a hike in the ex-gratia amount from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for kin of those who died due to cyclone Titli and its after effects. An additional Rs. 6 lakh will also be disbursed from the Chief Minister Relief Fund.

Patnaik assured that vulnerability mapping of all villages and habitations located in hilly and difficult regions will be done and all facilities will be extended to the affected people when they shift to other locations. The step comes after reports that people from many villages have expressed their willingness to move from the hilltop to different locations.

The state government has also announced that these new settlements will be declared as villages and all basic amenities such as drinking water, anganwadi centres, schools, community centres and health facilities will be provided.

Patnaik also said that provision of connectivity, homestead land, house building assistance and social security cover will be made immediately. Besides, the state will extend facilities for education and other expenses of those children who have been orphaned due to the natural calamity.

The people died due to a landslide, falling of trees, drowning, wall collapse in the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Angul, Keonjhar and Nayagarh.

Three districts of Odisha – Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada – were severely affected by cyclone Titli, heavy rains and the subsequent floods earlier this month.

While 39 deaths were reported from “worst-affected Gajapati district”, 12 casualties were reported from Ganjam and one from Kandhamal.

A senior government official said the restoration and relief operations were being carried out using State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF).

The state will approach the Centre for necessary assistance after “exact assessment” of the damages, he clarified.

As many as 16 of the 30 districts of the state were ravaged by heavy rain and flood following the landfall of Cyclone Titli last Thursday on Gopalpur in the southerwestern part of the state.