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Effects and resilience to natural disasters in rural India

prone to cyclones, and 68% of its agricultural land vulnerable to drought. In addition, the annual mean temperature
is on the rise (an increase of 0.86°C between 1901 and 2014) (GOI, 2004; Radhakrishnan et al., 2017). About 330
million people in India were affected by droughts in 2015 and 2016, the greatest number affected by a natural disaster
(Guha-Sapir et al., 2016). In India, heatwaves have proved deadly, with 3028 lives claimed in 1998, over 2000 lives
claimed in 2002 (NDMA, 2017), and 2248 deaths in 2016 (UNISDR, 2016). Nearly 6500 people lost their lives in
floods in India in 2013 (UNISDR and CRED, 2015). In 2013, cyclone Phailin displaced approximately 1 million
people (IDMC, 2014). These disasters wreck every aspect of people’s lives, destroying their livelihoods, harming
their health, and causing damage to the ecosystem and infrastructure. Natural disasters not only affect physical health
but also cause many psychosocial outcomes and considerable stress among the population. It has been evident that
heatwaves have become more intense and frequent in recent decades and claim the lives of people each year (NDMA,
2017; UNISDR, 2016).
Odisha features among the states in India most vulnerable to climate change and the occurrence of natural disasters,
including floods, cyclones, drought, and heatwaves (Ray Bennett, 2009; GOI, 2012; GOO, 2016; Patel, 2016). The
geographic location and climatic conditions of Odisha have led to multiple disasters over the years (GOO, 2002).
Floods are the most frequent natural disasters in Odisha due to its long coastline and multiple rivers. With the state
receiving 80% of its rainfall in 3 monsoon months, any variation in rainfall can lead to droughts and affect the
majority of the population that is dependent on agriculture (GOO, 2016). Cyclones have claimed lives and destroyed
infrastructure in Odisha and have proven destructive especially for the people living along its coastline. Increasing
levels of pollution, deforestation, and industrialization have made the heatwaves common in parts of the state, with
the deadly heat wave of 1998 claiming over 1000 lives in the state (GOO, 2016). Odisha has been affected by
disasters for 90 of the past 100 years (Sharma et al., 2016). The socioeconomic profile of the state, its dependence on
agriculture and other nature-based livelihoods, and a population more than two-thirds under the poverty line make
it ripe for natural disasters (Mishra, 2015). This combination of extremely disaster-prone geographical location, low
socioeconomic indicators, and changing weather patterns resulting from climate change make it the disaster capital
of India (Sharma et al., 2016).
Although many studies in Odisha have focused on mapping and vulnerability assessment for disasters, few studies
have provided an in-depth understanding of the effect of natural disasters on rural communities. To add to the limited
literature on the effect of natural disasters and resilience at the community level in Odisha, our study examines the
cumulative effects of natural disasters in Odisha from 1970 to 2014. In addition, it explores people’s perceptions of the
effects of, and resilience to, cyclones, floods, droughts, and heatwaves identifies government strategies that are helping
communities mitigate these natural disasters; and provides recommendations to strengthen responses to natural disasters
in the state. We believe that this comprehensive study will be useful in strengthening the state’s policies and programs, as
well as helping the population.
2. Data and Methods

This study used data from both a secondary source (quantitative data) and primary research (qualitative data) to answer
the key research questions:
• What are the mechanisms through which disasters affect the livelihood, food security, health, and other
socioeconomic conditions of people?
• What are the community responses, and the approaches of the different departments and public policy to prevent
or address the natural disaster impacts?

2.1. DesInventar: A Disaster Information Management System
This study analyzed the secondary data on natural disasters and their impact on socioeconomic dimensions and
infrastructures in Odisha using DesInventar, a disaster information management system data source. DesInventar is an
open database of natural disaster events reported in the media between 1970 and 2014 in 89 countries (UNDRR, 2015).
DesInventar is a conceptual and methodological tool for the generation of national disaster inventories and the construction
of databases of damages, losses, and, in general, the effects of disasters. These methodologies and software packages have
been developed by the DesInventar project team with support from the following institutions and partners: UNDRR
(United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), LA RED (The
Network of Social Studies on Disaster Prevention in Latin America), OSSO (Corporacion Observatorio Sismológico del
Sur Occidente), RobotSearch Software, and Apache Software Foundation.

4 International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 1