Bhubaneswar, Oct 29 (IANS) Victims of the Orissa super cyclone, which killed more than eight thousand people and rendered scores homeless, were given a sandy tribute on the tenth anniversary by artist Sudarsan Pattnaik on Orissa’s Puri beach.
The artist erected a five foot sand sculpture on the beach along with his students from the Golden Sand Art Institute.

The cyclonic storm touching a wind speed of about 300 km per hour hung on for 36 hours unleashing its fury in 14 coastal districts Oct 29, 1999. Probably the worst cyclone in recent memory, it killed more than eight thousand people and destroyed about 3 lakh homes, according to official figures.

The worst hit districts were Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur where some villages were completely wiped out.

Pattnaik has drawn a huge trunk of a broken tree with tears falling, a symbol for the scars that the cyclone left behind.

“I have erected a broken tree which reminds us of the worst cyclone of the last century that visited Orissa. I have drawn a crying broken tree to represent the devastation that the cyclone has left behind. I have also drawn the victims of the cyclone on the roots,” said Sudarsan Pattnaik.

Pattnaik and his students created the sculpture Wednesday using five tonnes of sand.