UN praises IMD on minimal deaths from Cyclone Fani

TheUnited Nations agency for disaster reduction has applauded the IndianMeteorological Department (IMD) for its early warning of extremely severecyclone Fani. Due to the warning by the Meteorological Department, the authoritiesconduct a well-targeted evacuation plan resulting in minimal loss of lives.

Affecting around 11 lakh people, the cyclone Fani made landfall in Odisha and killed at least eight people. It is India's strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in 20 years. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has classified Fani as an "extremely severe cyclonic storm".

"The IMD seems to have done a very good job in terms of minimising the possibility for loss of life," said spokesperson of UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (ODRR), Denis McClean. "The almost pinpoint accuracy of the warnings, the early warnings from the IMD, allows them to conduct a very well targeted evacuation plan which resulted in 1.1 million people mainly moving to about 900 cyclone shelters," added McClean.