The Army, on its part, has urged the State Administration to ensure that the relief material brought for distribution is not looted by mobs.

Collector Pradeep Jena said here today that the withdrawal of Army and other forces from Cuttack for deployment at Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara had seriously hampered relief work in the district which till now accounted for 115 deaths in the cyclone.

Thousands of starving people gheraoed all the 14 block offices demanding food. There was no truck nor adequate force to do relief work in the cyclone-ravaged areas.

Jena, who apprised state finance minister Raghunath Patnaik of the precarious situation, said 10 of the 14 blocks were seriously affected and the casualty figure mightnot be less than 300. Of the 115 deaths reported in the district so far, Salepur accounted for 38 deaths followed by Tangi Choudwar (37), Niali (20), Mahanga (12), Cuttack Sadar (five) and Cuttack city (three).

Over 90 per cent houses in the district had been damaged, Jena said adding that airdropping of food packets was ``absolutely required'' as hundreds of thousands of people were still marooned and no relief could be provided to them during the past six days in the absence of communication. Reports said that at least eight blocks Niali, Kantapada, Nischintakoili, Slepur, Mahanga, Cuttack Sadar, Banki and Tangi-Choudwar were the worst affected. Barring a few, all pucca and kuccha houses and standing crops in the area had been destroyed.

Stating that the district authorities had only 10 trucks against the requirement of 70, Jena said: ``Unless transport and adequate force is provided to us by the government, relief work is bound to be seriously hampered.''

The Collector convened an all-partymeeting today to take stock of the situation arising out of the withdrawal of five platoons of the Army and 70 per cent of transport provided to the district for relief work. Asking the people not to panic, Jena urged the trading community to reopen the shops and business establishments to make available all essential commodities in the market. Petrol bunks which had closed following incidents of looting and rioting in the city had been asked to reopen with police protection.The Army has urged the State administration to ensure that the relief material is not looted.

As per Operations Room information, despite the efforts by the Army, Navy and the Air Force, the relief material is too little.