Addressing Coastal Vulnerability at the Village Level : The Role of Socio-economic and Physical Factors

Vulnerability to extreme events is usually addressed for macro units (districts or provinces) whereas the relative vulnerability of micro units may be more useful to a policy maker. The present study addresses the vulnerability of coastal villages to cyclones and storm surge risks and identifies the physical and socio-economic factors strongly impacting the vulnerability of the villages. Rather than using a composite or aggregative index, we define the vulnerability index as the probability of facing non-zero deaths due to severe cyclones and calculate the indexes from a cyclone impact (human casualty) function using both Logit and Poisson specifications. We use human casualty data of the Super cyclone of Oct 1999 in India and other geo-physical and socioeconomic data for the same year and study the 262 villages lying within 10 km of the coast in Kendrapada district, a highly vulnerable district in India. We find 112 to 132 villages qualifying as least vulnerable with a death probability of less than 0.1; 72-82 villages as moderately vulnerable with a death probability ranging between 0.1 and 0.3; 34-37 villages rated as more vulnerable with a death probability in between 0.3 to 0.5; and 21 to 34 villages displaying high vulnerability with a death probability greater than 0.5. In general, villages established in the mangrove habitat areas after cutting down the forest and the ones with a higher percentage of marginal workers were found to be more vulnerable while those with mangrove vegetation behind them and situated near a big river were seen as being less vulnerable. The results have important implications in identification of the vulnerable or the most vulnerable hotspots in an otherwise vulnerable area.Coastal vulnerability, Cyclone risk, Mangroves, Marginal workers, Probability of Death, Vulnerable villages

Can Mangroves Minimize Property Loss during Big Storms? An Analysis of House Damage due to the Super Cyclone in Orissa

This paper estimates the storm protection benefits on residential property in the Kendrapada district of Orissa (India) due to the mediation of mangrove forests during a super cyclone (1999). By combining GIS data with census information, the analyses suggest that without mangrove protection the percentage of fully collapsed houses in the study area would have increased by 23%. Mangrove forests provided protection benefits to houses to the extent of INR 975, 800 (USD 23,233) per km width of forests or INR 51,168 (USD 1218) per hectare. Policy makers need to prioritize mangrove conservation and re-planting in planning for tropical storms

Storm Protection by Mangroves in Orissa: An Analysis of the 1999 Super Cyclone

This study assesses the storm protection role afforded by mangroves. It uses data on human casualties, damages to houses and livestock losses suffered in the Kendrapada district of the State of Orissa during the super cyclone of October 1999. The cyclone (of T 7 category) devastated 12 of the 30 districts of Orissa causing 9,893 human casualties and 441,531 livestock deaths, and damaging 1,958,351 houses and 1,843,047 hectares of crop. The analysis incorporates meteorological, geo-physical and socio-economic factors to separate out the impact of mangrove vegetation on cyclone damage. The results indicate that the mangroves significantly reduced human death and seemed more effective in saving lives (both human as well as animals) than in reducing damage to static property. While there was significant reduction due to mangroves in damage to residential houses and to big animals like cattle and buffaloes, these results were not robust. If the width of the mangrove forest was 10% more that what it was at the time of the cyclone, human casualties would have been lower by 12.48 %, buffalo loss by 6.6 %, cattle loss by 2.23 % and fully collapsed houses by 2.21%. Factors like land elevation, immovable asset holdings, etc., too, had decisive effects on human casualties in the storm surge affected areas

Mangroves : a natural defense against cyclones; an investigation from Orissa, India

This policy brief is based on a forthcoming SANDEE working paper, "Valuation of the storm protection services of the mangroves of Orissa"In October 1999, the state of Orissa in India was battered by a super cyclone that killed almost 10,000 people and caused a massive loss of livestock and property. Following this disaster there was a great deal of controversy over whether the high levels of mangrove forest destruction in the area had increased the impact of the cyclone. Many argued that the loss of human life caused by the storm was directly linked to the removal of the natural defenses provided by mangroves

Mangroves - A Natural Defense against Cyclones: An investigation from Orissa, India

Following this disaster in Orissa caused by a super cyclone there was a great deal of controversy over whether the high levels of mangrove forest destruction in the area had increased the impact of the cyclone. Many argued that the loss of human life caused by the storm was directly linked to the removal of the natural defenses provided by mangroves. [SANDEE Policy Brief No. 24-07]environment, environmental studies, human life, economic benefits, fish, storm, natural, India, Orissa, mangroves, defense, cyclone, defenses, forest destruction, disaster