The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman K Radhakrishnan has said that more than 400 images taken from ISRO satellites during the four days of thetropical stormPhailin helped in tackling the natural disaster last year.
Speaking to students at a private university inChennailast Friday, he said that inputs taken from the ISRO satellites including Kalpana and Insat-3D were very helpful during the recent "Cyclone Phailin",
"With their inputs, we were able to predict the velocity, intensity and the date of landfall almost accurately," he said adding the loss of life was only six or seven due to the cyclone.
Accurate weather predictions of the severe cyclone Phailin had saved the lives of many by helping in timely evacuation. However, it did led to massive agricultural loss in Odisha as five lakh hectares of crop worth 2,400 crore were destroyed.
Cyclone Phailin had made landfall at the Odisha coast on 14th of October last year, uprooting thousands of trees and claiming few lives in Ganjam district of the state, the worst affected by the cyclone. As several electric poles were also uprooted, many parts of Odisha are still in darkness.
