'66 boats yet to be traced; 713 fishers still to be rescued'

Sixty six boats from this district were yet to be traced, while 713 fishermen were still to be rescued, in the aftermath of cyclone Ockhi, a top district official said today.
"As per the latest data 66 boats are yet to be traced. Besides 713 fishermen from the district have to be rescued," Kanyakumari District Collector Sajjan Singh Chavan said today.
Steps were being taken to bring back to the state 2,478 fishermen, who were now staying in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Kerala and Gujarat, he said.
He said the monitoring committee officials, who were estimating the damage caused by the cyclone in the district, had put the loss at Rs 170 crore so far.

"The estimate is not yet over and the full estimate of loss would be known by tomorrow," he said.
A total of 4,495 houses had been damaged and Rs 93 lakh had been given as relief. Relief was due for 537 more houses.

Steps were being taken to provide diesel to fishermen who had strayed into Kasargode in Kerala and also Mangalore and Lakshadweep, while power supply had been restored in 642 of the 1150 villages, he said.
Water supply had also been restored in villages, he said.
While providing relief, priority was given to restoration of water,power supply,assessment of damage to crops and houses and restoring them, he said.