Surviving Cyclone Yaas at an Animal Shelter | feat AWTE in Odisha

Xandrieth Xs
3 min readJun 19, 2021

You might be aware that Odisha was hit by the annual cyclone in the last week of May. This year, the cyclone was named ‘Yaas’. And if you follow my channel, you might be aware that I volunteer at Animal Welfare Trust Ekarma, an animal shelter in Cuttack. So being a part of their cyclone preparation was unavoidable for me….

Xandrieth Xs at Animal Welfare Trust Ekarma during the preparation work for Cyclone Yaas….
A compilation of photos of me during the preparation process at AWTE….

Day 1

Yaas was forecasted to hit the area, Sundarpara, on the 26th morning. So, I reached the shelter on the 25th morning. I wasn’t alone. There were seven more volunteers there besides Purabi di and Lalit bhai. The plan was simple although labour intensive. The plan had four parts — putting on strong plastic sheets to shelter the animals from wind and rain, putting weights in the form of sandbags on the roofs to prevent them from flying away, laying bricks on the muddy surface and putting more vulnerable members of the family inside cages for better protection….

Volunteers at AWTE during cyclone Yaas | photo by Xandrieth Xs
Volunteers at AWTE during cyclone Yaas | photo by Xandrieth Xs

We started out by putting the covers and making air holes in them. Then we moved on to laying the bricks. We took breaks when the rain got too heavy and resumed work when it slowed down. Some kiddos like my cat Donnie were quite indifferent to what was happening around them. While some others were too curious and not quite helping…. But we love them either way….

A quick note, be a little observant of your surroundings to avoid killing innocent creatures by accident. For example, the sticky boi hanging out on the brick….

The langur Raju eating mango at AWTE during cyclone Yaas | photo by Xandrieth Xs
The langur Raju eating mango at AWTE during cyclone Yaas | photo by Xandrieth Xs

Some of us left before sundown to avoid getting stuck. With work left to do, four of us stayed back and ended up spending the night at the shelter. After completing most of the prep work, it was time to put the birds in the aviary inside the cages, the cages we freed them from a few months back. In this, my contribution was limited to the handling of the lights as I kinda freak out at the possibility of accidentally hurting the birds while catching them. My biking gloves came in handy though….

Finally, it was time for the routine works like medicating the sick doggos and sharing their evening food. These are usually done before sundown, but it was no regular day….

With the last kiddo with special needs put under extra protection and one last check-up on Donnie, the day came to an end. The night came in, the winds grew stronger and we braced for impact….

Day 2

Donnie the cat at AWTE | photo by Xandrieth Xs
Donnie the cat at AWTE | photo by Xandrieth Xs

The next morning, we woke up to good bois and gals waiting to be petted. Couldn’t ask for a better start to a day. What made the day better was finding out that our preparations have worked. There was no visible damage and none of the kids was injured. All the sandbags we put on the roofs did their jobs well. There was some waterlogging though, but nothing a pump can’t fix….

And some kids made it seem like nothing has happened. For example, Donnie was still indifferent. She’s my kid after all…. Cheers to the power of stoicism….

--

--

Xandrieth Xs

A veracious empath exploring Beyond the Superficial....