Welcome to the land of cyclone Fani. Oh! You are in time for the cyclone season. These are not unexpected greetings in this corner of the world.
After all, the east Indian state of Odisha has made headlines in the last 20 years for cyclones that ravaged the coastal state, even as recently as May 3, 2019, when Fani, a rarest of the rare summer cyclone pummeled the state.
Home to 46 million people, Odisha is often referred to as the disaster capital of the country, for the deadly cocktail of floods, cyclones, and droughts that regularly ravages it. The devastating cyclone Fani clinched a spot among 2019 high impact events as announced by the World Meteorological Organisation at 25th iteration of the United Nation’s Conference of Parties (COP 25).
Of the 1019 cyclonic disturbances the Indian subcontinent experienced in the last century, 890 impacted the eastern coast and 129 hit the western coast. As many as 260 cyclonic disturbances had their landfall along the Odisha coast in east India.
The defining moment for disaster management in Odisha came when the 10,000 deaths in the 1999 super cyclone prompted the state to launch a dedicated disaster management authority, an autonomous body. It became the first state in India to do so, saving lives in subsequent disasters and then winning global laurels for its work. Disaster management systems were also aligned with health systems in Odisha, where out of 30 districts of the state, 14 districts are categorised as high damage risk zone, as per the state’s wind and cyclone hazard zones map.
For example, evacuating pregnant women to shelters on a priority basis during disasters, especially cyclones, is being done consistently and efficiently. Distribution of chlorine tablets to disinfect water, antibiotics and antipyretics, has had positive impacts in controlling infections, said Sridhar Kadam, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Public Health-Bhubaneswar.
The government have also managed to lessen the damage from physical injuries that occur from property destruction during the cyclone event, Kadam told Mongabay-India.
However, Kadam, as well as other experts, feel with increasing frequency of extreme weather events and emerging health issues, it is time to up the ante.
In the case of cyclones, early warning systems prevented large scale death and disease in recent years. What happens in case of earthquakes or flash floods, questioned Kadam, adding that health system readiness must be customised for each category of disaster.
Rapid Response Teams that cater to each disaster and have updated knowledge on health systems aligned to that specific event will markedly improve readiness, he said.
Odisha’s list of state-specific disasters includes lightning, heatwave, tornado, heavy rainfall and snakebites (other than during flood) in addition to nationally-declared disaster (earthquake) and others.
According to Prabhat Ranjan Mahapatra of Odisha State Disaster Management Agency (OSDMA) the next level in disaster management is to factor in new challenges and prepare for a larger magnitude of a disaster, especially in the context of health.
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