Kolkata, South 24 Parganas: Four days after Cyclone Aila struck West Bengal, the scale of devastation is slowly becoming apparent.
The marooned villagers of the North 24 Parganas are amongst the estimated 5 million people affected by cyclone Aila.
The damage is enormous and spread across about 27 thousand villages.
Relief is being sent by air boat and land is not proving to be enough.
Says one survivor: "I have lost everything. We left home with only 2-3 sets of clothes. Water is still there. We cannot go back for fear of snakes. The government is giving us dry food but we need more."
As the victims wait for adequate relief, Union Minister Mamata Banerjee and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya appear to be in a race of sorts. Till yesterday it was who got the Army to assist in relief measures. Today, it is who first told the centre of the scale of the calamity.
In Delhi, Mamata approached the Finance Minister for more funds.
And from Kolkata, Buddhadeb requested the PM to declare Aila a national calamity.
"CM has sought the PM to let him know the extraordinary calamity and has sought him to declare this calamity as National Calamity and has asked for funds upto Rs1000cr to meet with the crisis," said state Finance Minister Asim Das Gupta.
Meanwhile in North and South 24 Parganas, which bore the brunt of Aila, decomposed carcass of cattle and fish is posing a health hazard.