Cyclone Fani stormed through the coastal region of India battering Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on 3rd May 2019. Odisha bore the worst brunt with widespread damage across. the state with 1.1 million people evacuated from their homes.

Puri, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and other towns like Khurda, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore were devastated. Though the casualty rate during the cyclone was very low due to the proactive steps taken by the Government, several thousands of kutcha houses were completely destroyed.

In a tripartite partnership with L&T Technology Services Limited and the District Collector’s Office of Puri (Government of Odisha), Habitat India is building disaster resilient homes for 150 families severely affected by Cyclone Fani in Bada Bhoi Sahi, Uttar Bhoi Sahi and Dhaudi Adiwasi Colony in Sadar Block of Puri District, Odisha. The ground-breaking ceremony for this project known as Project Neelachala was held on 10th December 2019 in Puri. In addition to the disaster resilient homes, the families in all the 3 villages will also undergo community based disaster risk management training to help them mitigate the impact of disasters through collective action
and preparedness.

The event was attended by Balwant Singh, District Collector – Puri, Dr. Keshab Panda, CEO – L&T Technical Global, Paresh Mallick,  Sarpanch – Baliguali, Rama Panda, Sarpanch – Bira Hare Krishanapur and Rajan Samuel, Managing Director – Habitat India.