India Meteorological Department’s Director General KJ Ramesh writes about how they prepared for the storm
By KJ Ramesh
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We had started observing [Cyclone Fani] as soon as it formed in the equatorial Indian Ocean as a low-pressure area. At first, we were tracking it with the help of imagery from Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) SCATSAT-1 satellite, which gave us its exact location once every day. It also informed us on the direction and intensity of winds close to the ocean surface.
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By April 30, 2019, we were clear about the fact that the cyclone will move towards Odisha and make landfall. This information was sent to the authorities on the ground through bulletins every three hours, emails and WhatsApp groups. Different sets of officials have different WhatsApp groups and the alerts are sent to all these groups. Just 24 hours before landfall the bulletins were issued every hour until the actual landfall.