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Weathering the Storm Ersama, Summary - Prashant was a, young boy of nineteen years of, age. He belonged to Kalikuda, a, village in the coastal state of, Odisha. He had lost his mother, seven years ago. On 27 October, 1999, when he was visiting a, friend in Ersama, a super cyclone, hit the area. There was large, scale devastation. The gushy, winds and rains continued for, two days. They remained on the, rooftop of the house and, survived on the tender coconuts, from the coconut trees that had, fallen on the roof. As the rain, stopped, Prashant left for his, home as he feared the worst for, , his family. He jeak a stick to help, him find the road. At times, he, had to swim through the flood, waters. On the way he met two, friends and their uncle and the, group moved together. They, came across dead bodies of, human beings and animals which, floated with the current. As they, crossed villages, not even a, single house could be seen., Prashant's house was Shattered, too and he saw the belongings, hanging on the branches of the, trees. He wept as he felt that he, had lost his beloved. He went to, the Red cross shelter in search of, his family. There Prashant met, his maternal grandmother. She, , was elated to see him alive as, they had not expected that he, would have survived the storm., Prashant saw a crowd of 2500, people at the shelter. Many had, lost their families in the disaster., They were grief stricken as the, catastrophe had snatched, everything. For the last 2 days, they had survived on coconuts, but they were running out of, stock. Prashant took control of, the situation. He formed a group, with some elders and young, people. They forced the, merchant to give them the stock, of rice and were successful. After, 4 days the crowd ate a meal., Then the group of volunteers, , cleaned the shelter and tended, to the injured people. Prashant, engaged the widows to work in, the NGO named “Food for work”., He engaged the children by, arranging sports matches for, them. The volunteers managed, to set up foster families, comprising of the widows,, orphaned children and lone men, who would form a family and, support each other. Like this, Prashant overcame his grief and, learnt to smile even in the face of, adversities.