Study: Climate change making Odisha vulnerable to cyclones

A joint study conducted by professors of National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) and Berhampur University has suggested that the frequency of cyclones in coastal Odisha has gone up alarmingly since 1999, the year of the Super Cyclone.

- Riyan.Ramanath

 The paper said while the state faced 10 cyclones since since 1737, between 1999 and 2021, it faced nine, including two of the most disastrous ones — Phailin (2013) and Fani (2019), the later being an extremely severe cyclonic storm.

The study — conducted by Amarendra Das, associate professor of school of economics, humanities and social sciences, NISER; Sasmita Behera, a research scholar at NISER and Dr Bibhunandini Das, assistant professor of economics at Berhampur University — focuses on micro level (at panchayat and urban body) funding, planning and preparedness to mitigate disasters.