Cyclones and Odisha have a long historical relation. Most of the Bay of Bengal cyclone formations hit or make a landfall in Odisha.

After 1999 super cyclone, here are some deadliest cyclonic storms that hit and destroyed our coastal ecosystem of Odisha.

1. Phylin=2013
2. Hudhud=2014
3. Titli=2018
4. Fani=2019
5. Bulbul=2019
6. Amphan=2020
7. BOB03=2020
8. Yash=2021

Cyclonic strong winds affect especially the weaker section of the society and posing significant threat to forest and forest biodiversity. These natural disasters not only hit human lives and properties but also cause major damage to our natural heritage including wildlife.

The reason behind this damage is due to densely populated coastal belts that are having shallow bathymetry approximately forming a funnel shape of Odisha coastline and the long stretch of the low-lying delta areas embedded with crisscrossed and number of river systems.

During these periods we at Jungle lore Foundation tried hard to reach the most vulnerable and most affected homeless community i.e., wildlife. Their vulnerability further worsens by lack of hiding places, lack of food availability, destruction of habitat, prone to poaching and entering into populated areas searching for food and shelter, injury and diseases. Many times, disaster response is quite impossible for forest department due to lack of communication and transport.

Action for natural threat: –

1. Quick reach, relief and recovery (support of government) process to address human life, wildlife displacement and dependency, vulnerability, poaching, over exploitation and dependency on natural resources and unemployment.
2. To address unnecessary relief materials that could damage nearest ecosystem.
3. Quick action to manage debris and trash.
4. Close eye and more intelligence on wildlife habitat.
5. Support concerned department on quick gas supply to reduce the dependency on wood.
6. Unite and encourage locals to support forest department for speed rescue operations.
7. Actions to unite government, private organizations, locals in one forum.
8. More awareness campaign before and after cyclone through social media, posters, announcements etc.
9. Provide health care to sick and injured wildlife with the support of local veterinary unit and forest department.

We can’t ignore cyclones, but with proper disaster management, preparedness mitigation measures and public awareness we can reduce human wildlife conflict and wild losses to a great extent.