Cyclone Disaster Mitigation and Management in India: An Overview

The Indian subcontinent is one of most affected cyclone prone region in the world. Indian coast is about 7156 long km out of which 5400 km along the mainland are highly vulnerable to cyclone and related hydro-meteorological hazards. The coastal states namely, Odhisha, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu are more prone to cyclone related hazards. Tropical cyclones are associated with strong wind, heavy rainfall, flood and storm surge. They can cause devastating damage to structures and huge loss of lives. Nearly one third of the population living in the coastal region of India is at a high risk due to Cyclone related hazards. The increase in the intensity and frequency of cyclones and rise in sea level due to climate change have led to significant increase in the vulnerability of coastal region. Learning from the past experience of super cyclone Odhisha in 1999, it has been observed that the loss of lives due to cyclone has been reduced significantly by improving initial warning systems and information dissemination, preparedness and undertaking several risk mitigations measures. But the damages to infrastructures and economic losses were very high due to past cyclones. Therefore, there is a need for integrating disaster risk reduction measures across all sectors of development. This paper presents a brief overview of cyclone disaster mitigation and management in India.