Orissa (India)
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Location: Orissa, India |
| Partner: Voluntary Health Association India |
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| Partner involved: University of Delhi, Northumbria University, University Hospital Heidelberg |
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| India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world with a kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage. It has achieved all-round socio-economic progress during the last 60 years of its Independence. It covers an area of 32,872,631 sq km, extending from the snow-covered Himalayan heights to the tropical rain forests of the south. As the 7th largest country in the world, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the mainland extends between latitudes 8°4' and 37°6' north, longitudes 68°7' and 97°25' east and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands and Andaman& Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km. The Indian Subcontinent is among the world’s most disaster prone areas, with 54% of land vulnerable to earthquakes, 8% vulnerable to cyclones and 5% vulnerable to floods. 12% land is liable to severe earthquakes, 18% of land is liable to MSK VIII and 27% is liable to MSK VIIIts unique geo-climatic conditions make this region among the most vulnerable to natural disasters in the world. India is one of the most hazard prone countries in the world, and poor people are at high risk when disaster strikes. Floods, drought, landslides and cyclones occur regularly. Earthquake risk is extremely high. These hazards threaten millions of lives and can cause large-scale financial, infrastructure, crop, and productivity losses that hinder India’s development. In the decade 1990-2000, an average of about 4,344 people lost their lives and about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year. Over the past couple of years, the Government of India has brought about a paradigm shift in the approach to disaster management. The new approach proceeds from the conviction that development cannot be sustainable unless disaster mitigation is built into the development process. Another corner stone of the approach is that mitigation has to be multi-disciplinary spanning across all sectors of development. The new policy also emanates from the belief that investments in mitigation are much more cost effective than expenditure on relief and rehabilitation. Disaster management occupies an important place in this country’s policy framework as it is the poor and the under-privileged who are worst affected on account of calamities/disasters. Some Facts:
The Indian Subcontinent is among the world’s most disaster prone areas, with 54% of land vulnerable to earthquakes, 8% vulnerable to cyclones and 5% vulnerable to floods. 12% land is liable to severe earthquakes, 18% of land is liable to MSK VIII and 27% is liable to MSK VIIIts unique geo-climatic conditions make this region among the most vulnerable to natural disasters in the world. India is one of the most hazard prone countries in the world, and poor people are at high risk when disaster strikes. Floods, drought, landslides and cyclones occur regularly. Earthquake risk is extremely high. These hazards threaten millions of lives and can cause large-scale financial, infrastructure, crop, and productivity losses that hinder India’s development. In the decade 1990-2000, an average of about 4,344 people lost their lives and about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year. Over the past couple of years, the Government of India has brought about a paradigm shift in the approach to disaster management. The new approach proceeds from the conviction that development cannot be sustainable unless disaster mitigation is built into the development process. Another corner stone of the approach is that mitigation has to be multi-disciplinary spanning across all sectors of development. The new policy also emanates from the belief that investments in mitigation are much more cost effective than expenditure on relief and rehabilitation. Disaster management occupies an important place in this country’s policy framework as it is the poor and the under-privileged who are worst affected on account of calamities/disasters. |
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| Orissa, India: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Orissa is a state situated in the east coast of India. It has a population of 36.8 million. Orissa is bounded on the north by Jharkhand, on the north-east by West Bengal, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, on the south by Andhra Pradesh and on the west by Chhattisgarh. The state is known for its temples, especially in the cities of Konark, Puri, and Bhubaneswar. The dense population, concentrated on the coastal alluvial plain, is inhabited by the non-tribal speakers of the Oriya language. The interior, inhabited largely by the indigenous people known as Adivasis is hilly and mountainous. The official language of the state, spoken by the majority of the people is Oriya. Oriya belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. Despite its rich natural endowments, Orissa remains the poorest of the fourteen major Indian states, with 47.15 percent of the rural population (or 17.35 million people) living below the poverty line. (National Sample Survey (NSS) th 55 round 1999/00). The state has the lowest social and human development indicators in the country. The IMR in Orissa stands at 87/1000 live births much higher than the national average of 63/1000 births. Despite Orissa ranking well below national averages in terms of social welfare indicators the issue is not necessarily one of a lack of resources, but poorly managed systems of delivery, poorly informed decision making, weak policies and unaccountable delivery mechanisms. A further factor in the disparities and limited impact of progressive programmes within Orissa lies in a lack of accountability and underlying social mobilisation or transformation. Orissa is vulnerable to multiple disasters. Due to its sub-tropical littoral location, the state is prone to tropical cyclones, storm surges and tsunamis. Its densely populated coastal plains are the alluvial deposits of its river systems. The rivers in these areas with heavy load of silt have very little carrying capacity, resulting in frequent floods, only to be compounded by breached embankments. Though a large part of the state comes under Earthquake Risk Zone-II (Low Damage Risk Zone), the Brahmani Mahanadi graben and their deltaic areas come under Earthquake Risk Zone-III (Moderate Damage Risk Zone) covering 43 out of the 103 urban local bodies of the state. Besides these natural hazards, human-induced disasters such as accidents, stampede, fire, etc, vector borne disasters such as epidemics, animal diseases and pest attacks and industrial / chemical disasters add to human suffering are also observed in frequent intervals. |
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| Demography: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jagatsinghpur district is consisting of 8 administrative units (blocks). The total population of the the district is 1,139,126 out of which 580,294 is male and 558,832 are female. The population in the rural area is 1,025,210 and in the urban area the population is limited to 113,916. The schedule caste population consists of 240,355 and the schedule tribe population is 9,113. The population density of the district is 662 per sq. k.m. The district has 5 tehsils, 2 towns, 198 panchayats and 1,280 villages. The total number of household in the district is 223,530. The block population in the district is as follows: Table 15. Population of Jagatsinghpur District
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| Geography: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jagatsingpur district in Orissa, India is taken as one of the survey site under MICRODIS. Jagatsinghpur is a district in coastal Orissa. On 1st April 1994 it was carved out of the erstwhile undivided Cuttack District. It is geographically located between 20° 16' North Latitude and 86° 10' East Longitude and at an altitude 14 meters from sea level. It covers a geographical area of 1914.6 Sq. Km. with the forest area of 132.92 Sq. Km. For the convenience of administration the district is divided into one subdivision, four Tahasil and eight blocks. Jagatsinghpur district is well connected by road and railways. Devi, Mahanadi, Kathajodi and Biluakhai are the four main rivers that flow through the district. There are two main Canals in the district they are Taladanda and Machhagaon. Paradeep Port is located in the district of Jagatsinghpur. Paradeep Port is one of the major ports of India. Paradeep and Tirtol are the two areas of the District that are industrially important. The economy of the District is mainly dependent on agriculture. The other means of occupation for the people are manufacturing, storage and communication, trade and commerce, transport, processing, repairing services etc. |
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| Economy: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The economy of the district primarily depends on agriculture. The small land holding and rain fed farming system rules the agri economy of the district. Two crops are yielded in a year. i.e. Rabi and Kharif. The key crops of the district are paddy, sugarcane, turmeric and cotton. Processing, manufacturing, and fisheries industries have a dominant contribution towards the economic development of Jagatsinghpur district. Industry, handicraft, prawn culture and daily wage work also contributes to the economy of the people of the district. Due to presence of the government establishments and educational institutions, a number of people is also occupied in the service sector. Paradeep port Sarala temple is two magnificient tourist destinations of the district whereas Paradeep port generates employment and revenue from the port transactions. Out of the total population of the district 46% depend on fisheries, 82% depend on agriculture, 21% on industrial work and 8% depend on handicraft activities. |
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| Health: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The total population of the district is 1,139,126 consisting of 580,294 male and 558,832 female population. The sex ratio in the district is 962/1,000. There are 174,425 eligible couples. The decadal growth of population is 1.2%. There is 1 District Health Center, 8 C.H.C.s, 25 PHCs and 1 area hospital. Through these health centers 83.2% of the deliveries are institutionalized in the year 2006- 2007. The Infant Mortality Rate in the district is 55.3 per 1000 live birth and the child (1-5 years) mortality is 61.2. The Maternal Mortality Rate is 178 per lakh. The above data is referred from the government report. However the reality at the ground is far grim and serious. In the district the morbidity among the community is mainly due to diarrhea, fever, eye infection, skin infection, malaria, arthritis, gastritis, tuberculosis, dysentery, worm infestation etc. The major causes of death are pneumonia, heart diseases, ARI, cancer. |
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| Education: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The district is among the first few most literate populated districts in the State. The literacy level is more than 75% which consists of 81% male literacy and 69% female literacy. The literacy rate at the national level is 65.38% and in Orissa is 63.61%. The literacy rate in Jagatsinghpur district is higher than the national and state literacy rate. In all the villages of the panchayats there are Anganwadi Centers. At the Panchayat level U.G.M.E., M.E. and High Schools are there. The schools are either managed by government or privately by the committees formed at panchayat level. |
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| Religion: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hinduism is the main religion in this area. The second largest populated religion is Muslim. Christian population is in very small size in the district. |
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| Language: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oriya language is spoken and understood by majority of the population. Besides Oriya, Urdu language is spoken, understood and written by the Muslim population. In school curriculum, Urdu language is also included as an optional subject. |
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| Disaster experience: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The state of Orissa is one of the most disaster prone states in the Indian Union. Orissa's six coastal districts are often subjected to tropical storm systems like cyclones as well as storm induced flooding and surges. Severe flooding caused by storm surges during the 1999 super cyclone caused massive damage to life and property. In the last decade 5 major disasters have affected the State severely. The district, as well as blocks, is disaster prone due to their geographic location. The entire geography of the district is coastal plain land with network of rivers and canals. The 5 survey blocks are closely located to the Bay of Bengal. In the districts there are 3 disaster sensitive blocks; namely Ersama, Kujanga and Tirtol. However Balikuda, Biridi, are also prone to disasters of relatively high intensity. In the last decade 5 disasters have affected the district. The major disasters that occurred in the district in 1999 were: a Super cyclone and a gas leakage in Paradeep Phosphet Ltd; in 2001 it was heavy flood; in 2005 another heavy flood; and in 2007 another major flood. In the year 2008 the flood was of very high intensity which caused massive devastation to a large number of the population and affected a larger geographic area. The vulnerability of the district as well as the blocks was clearly observed during the last Super cyclone and consecutive floods. People with lower income group and lower social strata are those who reside near the most vulnerable points of disaster. People living below poverty line, SC and ST population, women headed houses, physically challenged people, are the worst affected during a disaster. Pregnant women, elderly and children are also badly affected during the disasters. The entire geography of the district is coastal plain land with network of rivers and canals. The district is situated very near the Bay of Bengal. It comes under the watershed of river Mahanadi and Paika. In the rainy season, when the rivers are full, there are strong chances of flood. Due to lack of infrastructure such as embankments, strong water dam or storage, the flood situation has worsened. Summary of Recent Disasters in the district:
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| Reference: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - http://india.gov.in - http://osdma.org - www.dfid.gov.uk - www.concern.net - http://pdm.madicine.wisc |
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Enumerator Training in Orissa |
