With 20 million people affected by the cyclone and floods, officials fear epidemics of disease and violence will increase the death toll from the cyclone. Guesstimate' of over 3,000 dead A reliable death toll was hard to pin down. One senior army officer involved in the rescue operation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that 10,000 to 20,000 were dead. That would make the storm India's worst, topping the 10,000 killed in a 1971 cyclone. He added that it was too early to make a final assessment.
Relief work is on a war footing.
We are conducting exhaustive aerial surveys to assess the situation. Army and police still have not reached the hardest-hit areas. The port of Paradwip has been cut off since it was battered by the storm for eight hours on Friday. But the navy cleared a channel for two landing craft and food was delivered to 1,500 people on Tuesday. But some people told CNN's Satinder Bindra that they had not eaten in six days.