NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Moments Chapter 6: Weathering the Storm in Ersama

This story is a true account by the writer of devastation that happened in Orissa in 1999 by a cyclone. At that time, Prashant was a 19-year-old boy. He went to visit his friend in Erasma. When the cyclone hit Orissa, he was at Ersama, and the cyclone continued for 36 hours. Prashant had to stay at his friend's house for two days. He was worried about his family. His village was 18 kilometres away from Ersama. He started his journey to the village by walking. On his way, he had to pass various dead bodies and carcasses of animals. The water was to his waist level. When Prashant reached his village, he was terrified. He thought that his family could not survive the storm. He became delighted when he saw his family at the Red Cross camp.

He started a camp for victims. He arranged food, medicine and formed a group of youth and elders. They asked the local merchants for rice, cleaned the shelter of urine, and some volunteers helped the injured. Government help that reached the village was not that much to bring comfort to all the victims. He encouraged women to work under the' food for work' program by an NGO. He made a shelter for all orphaned children. He started arranging social events. Prashant was a saviour to all orphaned children and widows. He made the widows look after the orphaned child.

The message of the story is that community members should help themselves and others when calamity strikes. They should not be completely dependent on the government for aid. It also tells the contribution of youth in society.