Visakhapatnam: State government in Andhra Pradesh, lined up a string of events to boost the morale and cheer up cyclone Hudhud-affected victims in key port city of Visakhapatnam.
The authorities organised marathon and cyclothon with an aim to revive the brand image of Visakhapatnam as a tourist and investment destination.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is scheduled to take a whirlwind tour of the city later in the day to participate in several tourism and developmental activities.
Events like marathon, cyclothon, tree plantation, yoga performance, sand art, crafts fair, art camp, ramp walk, etc were organised at R K beach.
Urban Development Minister in Andhra Pradesh state P. Narayana, said that they would be planting nearly 100,000 trees in the city.
“Everybody knows that how Hudhud affected Visakhapatnam but within three to six days the government tried to rectify everything in Vishakhapatnam. Today we are planting nearly 100,000 trees on streets of Visakhapatnam because almost all tress have collapsed,” he said.
Cyclone Hudhud slammed into the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, in October, tearing down tens of thousands of mud-and-thatch homes, and flattening rice, banana and sugarcane plantations.
The death toll from Hudhud had reached 41, as authorities struggled to restore power, transport and communication links and shelter 150,000 people forced to abandon their homes
The tail end of Hudhud went on to cause sudden and severe snowstorms further north in Nepal, killing at least 30 people on the Annapurna circuit, a Himalayan trek that is popular with foreign adventure tourists.Â