Hurricane Ian: What Odisha can teach Florida in handling tropical cyclones

Battered and brushed by Hurricane Ian, the agony of Florida is manifold. The death toll has already surpassed 100 and counting as the rescue personnel continue to search for survivors in several pockets of the south-eastern state of the United States.

US President Joe Biden visited Ian-ravaged Florida on 5 October to assess the situation. “It would take years for Florida to rebuild from Hurricane Ian,” he said.

Even as Florida struggles to recover, Hurricane Ian has led to political whiplash as the Biden administration is facing the heat amid allegations that residents in some hard-hit areas did not receive enough advance warning to evacuate.

At a time when the Biden administration is facing the mounting allegations of negligence in pre-hurricane evacuation, there is a lot Florida — and the US — can learn from the Indian state of Odisha which has set a global benchmark in disaster preparedness and risk mitigation.

“Early warning to save lives”

Underlying the message, “Early warning to save lives”, Odisha has ensured adequate planning, preparedness and capacity building to minimise human casualty during a cyclone.

The state’s effective handling of a cyclone has earned praise from the United Nations. Calling the state’s capability of saving lives with its “able disaster management skill” a “landmark success story”, the UN has recognised Odisha as a “model for disaster management programmes globally”. Similarly, the state’s disaster mitigation capability has also been lauded by the World Bank.

Remember, Odisha had evacuated a whopping 1.2 million people within a span of less than 48 hours during Super Cyclone Fani in 2019 — one of the biggest evacuation operations in human history. And this mammoth exercise involved more than 45,000 volunteers.

Similarly, close to one million people were evacuated when Cyclone Phailin struck the state in 2013. This bears testimony to Odisha’s prowess in conducting pre-cyclone evacuation operations.

Situated along the seaboard of the Bay of Bengal, Odisha is often referred to as the “Disaster capital of India”. Statistically, between 1891 and 2021 as many as 100 tropical cyclones lashed the state.

In fact, Odisha has been facing a cyclone every two years.

Significant reduction in death toll despite recurring cyclones 

Let me put the death toll of all the major cyclones that hit Odisha in recent times, into perspective. During the 1999 super-cyclone in Odisha, the death toll was a massive 10,000. In 2013, Cyclone Phailin claimed 21 lives. In 2014 Cyclone Hudhud, only two people died.

The 2018 Cyclone Titli claimed 57 lives. The 2019 Cyclone Fani took the lives of 64 people. In the 2021 Cyclone Yaas, the latest major cyclone to hit Odisha, the death toll was contained with just 3.

From a death toll of 10,000 in 1999 to a death toll of just 3 in 2021, Odisha has come a long way in containing the fatalities. This has become possible because of the state’s ability to put in place an effective disaster management strategy — a template that the world can learn from.
In fact, Odisha has taken lessons from the past disasters and designed its disaster management strategy accordingly.

As a response to the massive death toll and damage caused by the 1999 super-cyclone, the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) was established in the same year.

The OSDMA, the first ever disaster management authority in India and perhaps the first of its kind body in the world given its scale of operations, was established even before National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was constituted in 2001 and much before the Disaster Management Act was passed by the Government of India in 2005.

Odisha has been able to develop a robust disaster resilient mechanism with focus on developing infrastructure, technology and manpower. During the 1999 super cyclone, there were only 23 permanent cyclone shelters in the state with a total capacity of accommodating about 30,000 people. But today, the state has a network of 870 multi-purpose cyclone shelters, along the 480 km long coast coastline, where each one has the capacity to accommodate 1,000 people.

Of the cyclone shelters, 450 have maintenance committees, where trained youth are involved with disseminating cyclone warnings, providing first-aid medical attention to the victims and helping rescue and relief operations. Through the network of these shelters, the state actively involves the entire community in the mainstream disaster management.

In fact, community participation and outreach is the most distinguishing feature of Odisha’s disaster management model. This helps speedy dissemination of cyclone warning and mobilisation of people of the targeted areas for evacuation operations.

Management of twin disasters – Covid-19 and cyclone

During 2021 Cyclone Yaas, the latest among the cyclones to hit Odisha, the state was facing two-fold challenges because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Odisha ably executed both the evacuation exercise and the Covid management during the cyclone.

Not even a single injury was reported during the evacuation exercise. Similarly, no Covid-designated hospital in cyclone-affected districts reported any untoward incident as adequate drugs, injections and oxygen were stocked.

Pregnant women with a due date of delivery were identified and shifted to hospitals instead of cyclone shelters. On the day Cyclone Yaas made landfall, as many as 190 childbirths were reported, making it a world record. This would not have been possible without the community participation.

In terms of battling cyclones, the only difference Odisha has made in the last 23 years is preparedness. Cyclone is the time when Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik means business and complacency is something he never allows. There has been a clear command and control structure to carry out disaster management.

Disaster preparedness mechanism

As part of its robust disaster preparedness mechanism, Odisha has established an ambitious Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) with last-mile connectivity.

Using this mechanism, the state can activate sirens from as many as 122 towers, spreading over 480 km long coastline, to alert vulnerable populations at the push of a button.

Two coastal villages of the state — Venkatraipur in Ganjam district and Noliasahi in Jagatsingpur district — were declared as “tsunami ready” by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), making India the first country in the Indian Ocean Region to establish such a high level of disaster preparedness. Further, plans are afoot to make as many as 326 villages of the state tsunami ready.

Further, the state has created a decentralised disaster management mechanism by establishing 16 district level disaster management planning committees, 155 block level planning committees and 22,000 village level committees. The district level disaster management planning committees reach out to district level planning committees which in turn reach out to the block level committees down the line.

Given the frequency of natural disasters Odisha faces, the state’s disaster management systems are monitored twice in a year. And every year, the state is conducting a mock drill to test the preparedness to respond to the cyclone.

This is not to dispute that with persistent focus on developing infrastructure, manpower and preparedness, Odisha has emerged as one of the most disaster-ready states in the world.

The state’s expertise, resilience and efficiency in tackling cyclones have been proved to be commendable. Therefore, adopting the Odisha model of disaster management as a case study could be beneficial for Florida.

The writer is a multimedia journalist having 17 years of experience, with 10 years in senior editorial positions. Views expressed are personal.

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