Analyzing the Dynamics of Social Vulnerability to Climate Induced Natural Disasters in Orissa, India

Abstract

Climate induced natural disasters (CINDs) including droughts, floods, cyclones and heat waves have become serious problems to Orissa, a coastal state of India. Fluctuating weather conditions in the state suggest that it is reeling under a climatic chaos. It has been experiencing contrasting weather like heat waves to cyclone and from drought to flood for more than a decade. The dramatic change in state's ecology and weather conditions are perhaps consequences of climate change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) links vulnerability with climatic change and point out that the vulnerability of a region depends largely on its wealth and poverty, which limits the adaptive capabilities The socio-economic systems of the state like Orissa remains more vulnerable to CIND because of high reliance on natural resources, limited ability to adapt financially and intuitionally, low per capita GDP, acute poverty and lack of safety nets. Vulnerability is social condition of measuring coping ability that differs across the regions, economic sectors and social groups. The historical disparities in the socio-economic structure of the state shaped the social vulnerability of the population and their responses to cope with looming crisis. These disparities are derived from caste, class, occupation, age difference and socially marginalized population which will result into uneven impact of hazards on the various communities in different districts of Orissa. This article examines how the pre-existing social vulnerability within different districts of Orissa interacted with catastrophe to produce socio-spatial pattern recovery. The study aims to develop composite index of social vulnerability (CISV) for the districts of Orissa by using a combination of statistical and spatial approach to improve the ability of poor people to be more resilient to current natural hazards as well as to the risks associated with long-term climate induced natural disasters. The methodology proposed in developing CISV is to overcome the persistent dichotomy in different vulnerability research and also to highlight the priority areas of policy implications in building adaptive capacity of the most vulnerable districts.