Restoring the power supply in the cyclone-hit areas of Odisha is the biggest challenge for the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF). In an interview with ET’s Rahul Tripathi, NDRF ’s director-general Satya Narayan Pradhan discusses the ground situation in the aftermath of cyclone Fani and why it is time to start thinking about building disaster-resilient cities . Edited excerpts.The eye of the storm passed through Puri and Bhubaneswar . Damage has been most extensive in areas of communication lines, power supply and water. Water supply will probably be fine in a few days. Telecom lines will also be up in a week. Mobile connectivity is partially restored. I got a sense that people are optimistic about telecom lines, as they are able to talk to people outside Bhubaneswar. The problem lies in restoration of power lines. The major hurdles are uprooted trees, as they have power lines wrapped around them. It will take a week to 10 days to come close to near normal in power supply.The principal differentiating point is that this cyclone hit in peak summer. The usual time for cyclones in Odisha is October-November. When a cyclone develops 800 miles south of the equator and hits the coast of Odisha, it has built into a system that is laden with moisture. The second is that half of the cyclonic eye went over land and half of it was in the sea. Because of the heat differential and being more moisture-laden, it hit harder. Thirdly, this cyclone passed parallel to the coastline but covered half of the coast. It was half inside and half in the sea. If you drew the line, you could see that there is a bulge starting from south of Puri near Chilka. There is a bulge in land mass up to Balasore and above. These are built up and that’s why there was so much damage.Even if we had six months’ advance warning, this could not have been prevented, primarily because we have not built disaster-resilient towns. Such towns have underground cables and wind directional hoardings. It would mean poles of a certain level which will not bend during a cyclone. It will mean planting trees which will not get uprooted. It is time for us to think about disaster-resilient coastal cities.The army, navy and coast guard have been part of the operation, but it has been made clear that NDRF has to play a frontline role in disaster management. A major role of the NDRF is to get hold of prediction from the IMD and other inputs. We had pre-positioned troops in all high-impact areas and that’s why we could help in evacuation. I think this is the role that we have taken and now have specialisation in various fields.That was the case till five years ago. Now, we have bases all over the country. We have a battalion in Odisha. We work 24x7, 365 days. When NDRF is not operating, it is conducting mock drills, training the community, working with governments. By August 2019, every state will have footprints of NDRF. Each NDRF team is designed to be selfsufficient. They (team) have 280 equipment. Every team member is a medical-first responder—can stablise a heart patient; can help deliver a baby; they are collapsed structure experts, they are aquatic disaster experts, they are chemical, biological and nuclear experts.