Disaster Management

Based Project Work (Practical)

Unit 1. Introduction to Disaster Management: Basic concepts; Disaster Management Cycle:
components and stages; Community Based Disaster Management
• Disasters are as old as human history but the dramatic increase and the damage caused by them in
the recent past have become a cause of national and international concern.
• Over the past decade, the number of natural and manmade disasters has climbed inexorably.
• From 1994 to 1998, reported disasters average was 428 per year but from 1999 to 2003, this figure
went up to an average of 707 disaster events per year showing an increase of about 60 per cent
over the previous years.
• The biggest rise was in countries of low human development, which suffered an increase of 142 per
cent.

Drought and famine have proved to be the deadliest disasters

globally, followed by flood, technological disaster, earthquake,
windstorm, extreme temperature and others. Global economic
loss related to disaster events average around US $880 billion
per year.
• In India, 59 per cent of the land mass is susceptible to seismic hazard; 5 per cent
of the total geographical area is prone to floods;
• 8 per cent of the total landmass is prone to cyclones;
• 70 per cent of the total cultivable area is vulnerable to drought.
• Apart from this the hilly regions are vulnerable to avalanches
landslides/hailstorms/cloudbursts.
• Apart from the natural hazards, we need to know about the other manmade
hazards which are frequent and cause huge damage to life and property.
• It is therefore important that we are aware of how to cope with their effects.
What is a Disaster ?
• The term disaster owes its origin to the French word “Desastre” which is a combination of
two words ‘des’ meaning bad and ‘aster’ meaning star. Thus the term refers to ‘Bad or Evil
star’.
• A disaster can be defined as “A serious disruption in the functioning of the community or a
society causing wide spread material, economic, social or environmental losses which
exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources”.
• A disaster is a result from the combination of hazard, vulnerability and insufficient
capacity or measures to reduce the potential chances of risk.
• A disaster happens when a hazard impacts on the vulnerable population and causes
damage, casualties and disruption.
• Any hazard – flood, earthquake or cyclone which is a triggering event along with greater
vulnerability (inadequate access to resources, sick and old people, lack of awareness etc)
would lead to disaster causing greater loss to life and property.
• For example; an earthquake in an uninhabited desert cannot be considered a disaster, no
matter how strong the intensities produced.
• An earthquake is disastrous only when it affects people, their properties
and activities.
• Thus, disaster occurs only when hazards and vulnerability meet.
• But it is also to be noted that with greater capacity of the
individual/community and environment to face these disasters, the impact
of a hazard reduces.
• Therefore, we need to understand the three major components namely
hazard, vulnerability and capacity with suitable examples to have a basic
understanding of disaster management
What is a Hazard ? How is it classified ?
• Hazard may be defined as “a dangerous condition or event, that threat or
have the potential for causing injury to life or damage to property or the
environment.”
• The word ‘hazard’ owes its origin to the word ‘hasard’ in old French and
‘az-zahr’ in Arabic meaning ‘chance’ or ‘luck’.
• Hazards can be grouped into two broad categories namely natural and
manmade.
1. Natural hazards

• Natural hazards are hazards which are caused because of natural phenomena (hazards with
meteorological, geological or even biological origin).
• Examples of natural hazards are cyclones, tsunamis, earthquake and volcanic eruption which are
exclusively of natural origin.
• Landslides, floods, drought, fires are socio-natural hazards since their causes are both natural
and man made.
• For example flooding may be caused because of heavy rains, landslide or blocking of drains with
human waste.

2. Manmade hazards
• Manmade hazards are hazards which are due to human negligence.
• Manmade hazards are associated with industries or energy generation facilities and include
explosions, leakage of toxic waste, pollution, dam failure, wars or civil strife etc.
The list of hazards is very long. Many occur frequently while others take place occasionally
Vulnerability
• Vulnerability may be defined as “The extent to which a community, structure, services or
geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of particular hazard,
on account of their nature, construction and proximity to hazardous terrains or a disaster
prone area.”
• Vulnerabilities can be categorized into physical and socio-economic vulnerability.
• Physical Vulnerability: It includes notions of who and what may be damaged or destroyed by natural hazard
such as earthquakes or floods.
• It is based on the physical condition of people and elements at risk, such as buildings, infrastructure etc;
and their proximity, location and nature of the hazard. during a hazard event. It also relates to the technical
capability of building and structures to resist the forces acting upon them
Socio-economic Vulnerability:
• The degree to which a population is affected by a hazard will not merely lie in the physical
components of vulnerability but also on the socioeconomic conditions.
• The socio-economic condition of the people also determines the intensity of the impact.
• For example, people who are poor and living in the sea coast don’t have the money to
construct strong concrete houses.
• They are generally at risk and loose their shelters when ever there is strong wind or
cyclone. Because of their poverty they too are not able to rebuild their houses.
What is capacity ?
• Capacity can be defined as “resources, means and strengths which exist in households and
communities and which enable them to cope with, withstand, prepare for, prevent, mitigate or
quickly recover from a disaster”. People’s capacity can also be taken into account.
• Capacities could be:
Physical Capacity: People whose houses have been destroyed by the cyclone or crops have been
destroyed by the flood can salvage things from their homes and from their farms. Some family
members have skills, which enable them to find employment if they migrate, either temporarily or
permanently.
Socio-economic Capacity: In most of the disasters, people suffer their greatest losses in the
physical and material realm. Rich people have the capacity to recover soon because of their
wealth. In fact, they are seldom hit by disasters because they live in safe areas and their houses are
built with stronger materials. However, even when everything is destroyed they have the capacity
to cope up with it.
Hazards are always prevalent, but the hazard becomes a disaster only when there is greater
vulnerability and less of capacity to cope with it. In other words the frequency or likelihood of a
hazard and the vulnerability of the community increases the risk of being severely affected.
What is risk ?
• Risk is a “measure of the expected losses due to a hazard event occurring in a
given area over a specific time period. Risk is a function of the probability of
particular hazardous event and the losses each would cause.” The level of risk
depends upon:
❖ Nature of the hazard
❖ Vulnerability of the elements which are affected
❖ Economic value of those elements

A community/locality is said to be at ‘risk’ when it is exposed to hazards and is likely to be

adversely affected by its impact.
 Disaster Management
DEFINITION AND CONCEPT
• Disaster management includes sum total of all activities, programs and measures which can be taken up
before, during and after a disaster with the purpose of avoiding, reducing the impact or recovering from its
losses.
• ,"Disaster management" can be defined as the range of activities designed to maintain control over disaster
and emergency situations and to provide a framework for helping those who are at risk to avoid or recover
from the impact of the disaster. This include preparedness before disaster, response and recovery i.e.
rebuilding and supporting society.
• Disaster management aims to reduce, or avoid, the potential losses from hazards, assure prompt and
appropriate assistance to victims of disaster, and achieve rapid and effective recovery.

❑Whenever we discuss ‘disaster management’ it is basically ‘disaster risk management’.

Disaster risk management includes all measures which reduce disaster related losses of
life, property or assets by either reducing the hazard or vulnerability of the elements at
risk.
Disaster risk reduction (DRR)
• Disaster risk reduction is aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and
managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the
achievement of sustainable development.
• Annotation: Disaster risk reduction is the policy objective of disaster risk management, and
its goals and objectives are defined in Disaster risk reduction strategies and plans.
• Disaster risk reduction strategies and policies define goals and objectives across different
timescales and with concrete targets, indicators and time frames. In line with the Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, these should be aimed at preventing the
creation of disaster risk, the reduction of existing risk and the strengthening of economic,
social, health and environmental resilience.
• A global, agreed policy of disaster risk reduction is set out in the United Nations endorsed
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, adopted in March 2015, whose
expected outcome over the next 15 years is: “The substantial reduction of disaster risk and
losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and
environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries”.
DM involves a continuous and integrated process of planning, organising, coordinating and
implementing measures which are necessary or expedient for:
Prevention of danger or threat of any disaster.
• Mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its
severity or consequences.
• Capacity building including research and knowledge
management.
• Preparedness to deal with any disaster.
• Prompt response to any threatening disaster situation
or disaster.
• Assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any
disaster. • Evacuation, rescue and relief.
• Rehabilitation and reconstruction.
A typical DM continuum comprises six elements; the
pre-disaster phase includes prevention, mitigation
and preparedness, while the post-disaster phase
includes response, rehabilitation, reconstruction and
recovery. A legal and institutional framework binds
all these elements together
Community Based Disaster Management
• The government alone cannot and will not be able to manage and handle all types of disasters with its
machinery without active participation by the people of any country, according to a common theory
given by policy makers, experts, and professionals.
• Failures of top down effective disaster management approach to reduce risks from of disasters land
evidence to this notion.
• As a consequence, numerous scholars and stakeholders feel that it is high time to adopt a new
strategy that will involve vulnerable people directly in planning and implementation of mitigation,
preparedness, response, and recovery measures.
• This is because communities are the best judges of their own vulnerability and are capable of making
the best decisions regarding their well-being.
• This philosophy involves local level people, leaders and community to provide necessary services and
logistics to the victims during and after the disaster.
• Such a strategy has been encouraged both in the developed and the developing countries and
launched on Community Based Disaster Management (CBDM) strategy.
 Cont…
• Community-Based Disaster Management (CBDM) initiates a process involving sequential
stages that can be operationalized to reduce disaster risk.
• The different stages in CBDM are disaster/vulnerability risk assessment, risk reduction
planning, early warning systems, post-disaster relief, and participatory monitoring and
evaluation.
• CBDM by its very nature demands a decentralized bottoms-up approach with intensive, micro
interventions at the local Panchayats, ward or village level with the intention of generating
confidence, awareness, knowledge, partnership, and ownership for planning and rolling out
local disaster management plans encompassing all levels of disaster management continuum.
• Equity and inclusion of marginalized segments of the society and bringing the vulnerable
groups to the center stage of planning and implementation of the CBDM have to be
prioritized to make the programme participatory and inclusive.
• Disasters affect the entire community. However, persons with disability, women and children,
underprivileged, older persons, and pregnant women need special attention at the
programme implementation level.
• Such rights and human dignity based inclusive ethos created by such programmes will
empower communities and display resilience in times of crisis.
Cont…
• Capacity building and training of community volunteers is the mainstay of community-based disaster
management since they are the first responders.
• Considering a large number of stakeholders and community representatives that need to be sensitized and
trained, it is important that capacity building and training interventions be meticulously planned for the
purpose of CBDM.
• CBDM should converge with existing mainstream, institutional mechanisms, and social welfare delivery
programmes to make it holistic, cost-effective, multi-dimensional and community-centric.
• The 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments recognize Panchayati Raj institutions as “institutions of self
and government”.
• They were put in place to decentralize and devolve financial and administrative powers through a tiered
structure from the district downwards right up to the Gram Sabha level.
• In the case of urban self government, devolution has to be brought up to the ward level.
• The paradigm of CBDM is entirely in keeping with this constitutional recognition of the importance of
decentralization and devolution of powers and extends it to the arena of disaster management.
Cont…
• These local bodies can be effective instruments in tackling disasters through
a variety of mechanisms such as: hazard, vulnerability and capacity
assessments, disaster management planning, early warning system, relief
distribution, providing shelter to the victims, medical assistance, etc.
• The elected representatives of these local bodies are the key stakeholders
through whom effective participation and ownership by local communities
can be achieved in CBDM.
 FLOOD HAZARD
• Flood is a state of high water level along a river channel or on the coast that
leads to inundation of land, which is not usually submerged.
• Floods may happen gradually and also may take hours or even happen
suddenly without any warning due to breach in the embankment, spill over,
heavy rains etc
• There are different types of floods namely: flash flood, riverine flood, urban
flood, etc.
• Flash floods can be defined as floods which occur within six hours of the
beginning of heavy rainfall, and are usually associated with cloud bursts,
storms and cyclones requiring rapid localized warnings and immediate
response to reduce damage.
• Wireless network and telephone connections are used to monitor flood
conditions. In case of flash floods, warnings for timely evacuation may not
always be possible.
Causes:
• There are several causes of floods and differ from region to region. The
causes may vary from a rural area to an urban area. Some of the major
causes are:
a. Heavy rainfall
b. Heavy siltation of the river bed reduces the water carrying capacity of the
rivers/stream.
c. Blockage in the drains lead to flooding of the area.
d. Landslides blocking the flow of the stream.
e. Construction of dams and reservoirs
f. In areas prone to cyclone, strong winds accompanied by heavy down pour
along with storm surge leads to flooding.
Typical Adverse Effects:
• The most important consequence of floods is the loss of life and property.
• Structures like houses, bridges; roads etc. get damaged by the gushing water, landslides
triggered on account of water getting saturated, boats and fishing nets get damaged.
• There is huge loss to life and livestock caused by drowning.
• Lack of proper drinking water facilities, contamination of water (well, ground water,
piped water supply) leads to outbreak of epidemics, diarrhoea, viral infection, malaria
and many other infectious diseases.
• Flooding also leads to a large area of agricultural land getting inundated as a result
there is a huge crop loss.
• This results in shortage of food, and animal fodder. Floods may also affect the soil
characteristics.
• The land may be rendered infertile due to erosion of top layer or may turn saline if sea
water floods the area
 Distributional Pattern of floods in India

• Floods occur in almost all the river basins of the country. The Vulnerability Atlas of India shows
pictorially the areas liable to floods. Around 12 per cent (40 million hectare) of land in India is
prone to floods.
• Most of the flood affected areas lie in the Ganga basin, Brahmaputra basin (comprising of Barak,
Tista, Torsa, Subansiri, Sankosh, Dihang and Luhit),
• The north-western river basin (comprising Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Beas and the Ghagra),
• Peninsular river basin (Tapti, Narmada, Mahanadi, Baitarani, Godavari, krishna, Pennar and the
Kaveri) and
• The coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, orissa and Kerela.
• Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa are some of the states who have been severely prone to
floods. Our country receives annual rainfall of 1200 mm, 85% of which is concentrated in 3-4
months i.e June to September.
• Due to the intense and periodic rain, most of the rivers of the country are fed with huge quantity
of water, much beyond their carrying capacity.
 Draught:
• What is Drought?
Drought is either absence or deficiency of rainfall from its normal pattern in a region for an extended period of
time leading to general suffering in the society.
It is interplay between demand that people place on natural supply of water and natural event that provides
the water in a given geographical region.
The state of Kerala which receives more than 3000 mm of rainfall every year is declared drought affected as it is
insufficient to have two good crops.
The more the imbalance in supply the higher is the drought.
The following will help explaining this general definition of the drought further.
▪ It is a slow on-set disaster and it is difficult to demarcate the time of its onset and the end.
▪ Any unusual dry period which results in a shortage of useful water.
▪ Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate. Climate is expected to show some aberrations and drought
is just a part of it.
▪ Drought can occur by improper distribution of rain in time and space, and not just by its amount
Cont…

• Drought is negative balance between precipitation and water use (through evaporation, transpiration by plants, domestic
and industrial uses etc) in a geographical region.
The effects of drought accumulate slowly over a considerable period of time
Causes of Drought
Can you think of what causes drought?
Though drought is basically caused by deficit rainfall, which is a meteorological phenomenon, it manifests into different
spheres because of various vulnerability factors associated with them (see the box). Some of these factors are human
induced.
Though drought is a natural disaster, its effects are made worst in developing countries by over population, over grazing,
deforestation, soil erosion, excessive use of ground and surface water for growing crops, loss of biodiversity
General Characteristics:
Types of droughts
• Drought proceeds in sequential manner. Its impacts are spread across different domains as listed
below.
Measuring Drought
• Elements at Risk
In general, all those elements that are primarily dependent on water are most affected. It affects
the rainfed crops and then slowly creeps into the irrigated crops. People who are dependent on
agriculture and areas where the other livelihood opportunities are least developed are greatly
affected. The herdsman, landless labourer, subsistence farmers, women, children and farm
animals are the most vulnerable groups
Cont…
 LANDSLIDE
• What is a landslide?
The term’ landslide’ includes all varieties of mass movements of hill slopes and
can be defined as the downward and outward movement of slope forming at
combination of all these materials along surfaces of separation by falling, sliding
and flowing, either slowly or quickly from one place to another.
Although the landslides are primarily associated with mountainous terrains,
these can also occur in areas where an activity such as surface excavations for
highways, buildings and open pit mines takes place.
They often take place in conjunction with earthquakes, floods and volcanoes.
At times, prolonged rainfall causing landslide may block the flow of river for
quite some time.
The formation of river blocks can cause havoc to the settlements downstream
on its bursting composed of rocks, soils, artificial fills or
 Type of Landslides
• The common types of landslides are described below.
Adverse Effects
• The most common elements at risk are the
settlements built on the steep slopes, built
at the toe and those built at the mouth of
the streams emerging from the mountain
valley.
• All those buildings constructed without
appropriate foundation for a given soil and
in sloppy areas are also at risk. Roads,
communication lines are vulnerable.
 Earthquake

• Earthquake is one of the most destructive natural hazard. They may occur
at any time of the year, day or night, with sudden impact and little warning.
They can destroy buildings and infrastructure in seconds, killing or injuring
the inhabitants. Earthquakes not only destroy the entire habitation but may
de-stabilize the government, economy and social structure of the country.
But what is an earthquake?
• It is the sudden shaking of the earth crust. The impact of an earthquake is
sudden and there is hardly any warning, making it impossible to predict.
Cause of Earthquake
The earth’s crust is a rocky layer of varying thickness ranging from a depth of about 10
kilometres under the sea to 65 kilometres under the continents. The crust is not one piece
but consists of portions called ‘plates’ which vary in size from a few hundred to thousands
of kilometres.
The ‘theory of plate tectonics’ holds that the plates ride up on the more mobile mantle, and
are driven by some yet unconfirmed mechanisms, perhaps thermal convection currents.
When these plates contact each other, stress arises in the crust.
These stresses can be classified according to the type of movement along the
plate’s boundaries:
• a) pulling away from each other,
• b) pushing against one another and
• c) sliding sideways relative to each other
• All these movements are associated with earthquakes. Starts form Lithosphere.
• The areas of stress at plate boundaries which release accumulated energy by slipping or rupturing are
known as 'faults’. A Fault is a sharp break in the crustal rocks.
• The theory of 'elasticity' says that the crust is continuously stressed by the movement of the tectonic
plates; it eventually reaches a point of maximum supportable strain.
• A rupture then occurs along the fault and the rock rebounds under its own elastic stresses until the strain is
relieved.
• The fault rupture generates vibration called seismic (from the Greek 'seismos' meaning shock or
earthquake) waves, which radiates from the focus in all directions. (Hypocentre)
• The point of rupture is called the 'focus' and may be located near the surface or deep below it. The point on
the surface directly above the focus is termed as the 'epicentre' of the earthquake.
Types:
1. Tectonic Earthquake
2. Volcanic Earthquake
3. Collapse Earthquake due to mining
4. Explosion (Due to chemical or nuclear devices)
5. Reservoir Induced Earthquake
Earthquakes can be of three types based on the focal depth:
Volcanoes
• A volcano is a vent or chimney which transfers
molten rock known as magma from depth to the
Earth's surface. Magma erupting from a volcano is
called lava and is the material which builds up the
cone surrounding the vent.
• A volcano is a place where gases, ashes, and/or
molten rock material – Lava- Escape to the ground.
• Volcanoes result when magma rises, pushes
through a weakness in the Earth’s crust, and spills
out onto the surface, devastating anything in its
path.
• The superheated rock is not the only danger,
however. Far below the earth’s surface, volcanic
gasses are dissolved in the magma.
• As the magma rises, it begins to cool down, and gas bubbles begin to form.
This makes the magma less dense than the surroundings, causing it to rise
faster.
• Pyroclastic flow is high speed ejection of hot gasses and debris can travel in
excess of 80 kilometres per hour and usually averages between 200 and 700
degrees Celsius. Not only does the pyroclastic flow travel too fast to be
outran, but it will incinerate everything in its path. pyroclastic
Cyclone:
• Cyclone is a region of low atmospheric pressure surrounded by high atmospheric pressure resulting in
swirling atmospheric disturbance accompanied by powerful winds blowing in anticlockwise direction in
the Northern Hemisphere and in the clockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere.
• They occur mainly in the tropical and temperate regions of the world.
• Cyclones are called by various names in different parts of the world.
General Characteristics:
Cyclones in India are moderate in
nature. Some of the general
characteristics of a cyclone are:
1. Strong winds
2. Exceptional rain
3. Storm surge

Cyclones are generally

accompanied by strong winds
which cause a lot of destruction.
In some cases it is accompanied
by heavy downpour and also the
rise in the sea which intrudes
inland there by causing floods.
Cont…
• 29th October 1999, Super-cyclone with wind speed of 260-300 km/hour hit the 140
kilometer coast of Orissa with a storm surge created in the Bay-of-Bengal with water
level 9 metres higher than normal.
• The super storm travelled more than 250 km inland and within a period of 36 hrs
ravaged more than 200 lakh hectares of land, devouring trees and vegetation, leaving
behind a huge trail of destruction.
• The violent cyclone was merciless and broke the backbone of Orissa’s economy and
killed thousands and devastated millions
The development of a cyclone covers three stages namely
a) Formation and initial development state:
Four atmospheric/ oceanic conditions are necessary for the formation of a cyclone namely:
A warm sea temperature in excess of 26 degree centigrade, to a depth of 60 meters,
which provides abundant water vapour in the air by evaporation.
High relative humidity (degree to which the air is saturated by water vapor) of the
atmosphere to a height of about 7000 meters, facilitates condensation of water vapor into
droplets and clouds, releases heat energy and induces drop in pressure.
Atmospheric instability (an above average decrease of temperature with altitude)
encourages considerable vertical cumulus cloud convection when condensation of rising air
occurs.
A location of at least 4-5 latitude degrees from the Equator allow the influence of the
force due to the earth’s rotation (Coriolis force) to take effect in inducing cyclonic wind
circulation around low pressure centres.
Cont…
b) Fully matured:
The main feature of a fully mature tropical cyclone is a spiral pattern of highly turbulent giant cumulus
thundercloud bands.
These bands spiral inwards and form a dense highly active central cloud core which raps around a relatively
calm zone.
This is called the “eye” of a cyclone.
The eye looks like a black hole or a dot surrounded by thick clouds. The outer circumference of the thick cloud is
called the ‘eye wall’.
c) Weakening or decay:
A tropical cyclone begins to weaken as soon as its source of warm moist air is abruptly cut off.
This is possible when the cyclone hits the land, on the cyclone moves to a higher altitude or when there is the
interference of another low pressure. Depending on their track on the warm tropical sea and proximity to land a
cyclone may last for less than 24 hours to more than 3 weeks.
On an average the life cycle of a cyclone (a cyclone to complete these three stages mentioned above) takes six
days.
The longest cyclone is typhoon John which lasted for 31 days (August to September, 1994 in the north east and
north west pacific basins).
Cont…
• Depending on their track on the warm tropical sea and proximity to land a cyclone may
last for less than 24 hours to more than 3 weeks.
• On an average the life cycle of a cyclone (a cyclone to complete these three stages
mentioned above) takes six days.
• The longest cyclone is typhoon John which lasted for 31 days (August to September,
1994 in the north east and north west pacific basins).
Indian Cyclones
• Cyclones vary in frequency in various parts of the world.
• The 7516.6 kilometres long Indian coastline is the earth’s most cyclone battered stretch of the world.
• Around 8 per cent of the total land area in India is prone to cyclones.
• About two-third of the cyclones that occur in the Indian coastline occur in the Bay of Bengal.
• The states which are generally affected in the east coast are West-Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh; Tamil
Nadu and on the west coast Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.
• When a cyclone approaches to coast, a risk of serious loss or damage arises from severe winds, heavy
rainfall, storm surges and river floods.
• The effect of a storm surge is most pronounced in wide and shallow bays exposed to cyclones such as in
the northern part of Bay of Bengal. On an average, five or six tropical cyclones occur every year, of which
two or three could be severe.
• Most cyclones occur in the Bay of Bengal followed by those in the Arabian Sea and the ratio is
approximately 4:1.
• The incidence of cyclonic storms, with wind speeds between 65 Km/h and 117 Km/h and severe cyclonic
storm with wind speeds between 119 Km/h and 164 Km/h, reaching Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is
high during the north east monsoon season ie. October – December, where as the highest annual number
of storms, severe storms occur in the Orissa - West Bengal coast.
Cont…
• The yearly distribution of tropical cyclones in the north Indian Ocean indicates large year to-year
variations in the frequency of cyclonic disturbances and tropical cyclones, but no distinct periodicity.
• However, the trend indicates a slight decrease with time. The annual average of cyclonic disturbances in
the North Indian Ocean is about 15.7 with a standard deviation of 3.1. The annual number of cyclonic
disturbances range from seven in 1984 to twenty three in 1927.
• The annual average of tropical cyclones has varied from one in 1949 to ten in 1893, 1926, 1930 and 1976.
• 4A severe super cyclonic storm with winds of upto 250 km/hour crossed the coast in Orissa on October
29, 1999.
• This may have been the worst cyclone of the country in the Orissa region and was responsible for as many
as 10,000 deaths, rendering millions homeless and extensive damage to property and environment. Some
of the disastrous tropical storms of India and Bangladesh.
Distributional Pattern:
• The map of India
shows the areas that
are generally affected
by strong winds/
cyclones.
 Warning:
• Low pressure and the development can be detected hours or days before it causes