  The super-cyclonic storm "Amphan" hit Eastern India, specifically the state
of West Bengal, Odisha and parts of Bangladesh in May 2020, and caused severe
damage to the regions. In this study, we aim to understand the self-reported
effects of this natural disaster on residents of the state of West Bengal. To
that end, we conducted an online survey to understand the effects of the
cyclone. In total, 201 participants (spanning five districts) from the
worst-affected state of West Bengal participated in the survey. This report
describes our findings from the survey, with respect to the damages caused by
the cyclone, how it affected the population in various districts of West
Bengal, and how prepared the authorities were in responding to the disaster. We
found that the participants were most adversely affected in this disaster due
to disruption of services like electricity, phone and internet (as opposed to
uprooting of trees and water-logging). Furthermore, we found that receiving
responses to Amphan-related queries is highly positively correlated with the
favorable perception of people about preparedness of authorities. Additionally,
we study the usage of online social media by the affected population in the
days immediately after the disaster. Our results strongly suggest how social
media platforms can help authorities to better prepare for future disasters. In
summary, our study analyzes self-reported data collected from grassroots, and
brings out several key insights that can help authorities deal better with
disaster events in future.
