Odisha Flashcards
Where is Odisha
Odisha is located in southeast India bordering the Bay of Bengal, the eastern part of the Indian peninsula.
The coastline is 450km long.
It’s the 9th largest state by area, but 11th by population, most people live on the coastal areas.
How did cyclone Phailin affect Odisha
• October 2013
• 240 km/hour winds
• 44 deaths but successful evacuation of
1 million which is the biggest evacuation in Indian history.
• In the Ganjam district 50,000 ha of crops were destroyed - costing $7500
• Due to 1999 Odisha cyclone (strongest recorded in the Indian ocean) killed 10,000 so Odisha was forced to implement a mitigation system, so Phailin death toll was lower
What are opportunities in Odisha
•Marine plants and animals
•Fish, reptiles, sand dunes, seaweeds, and lagoons
•Potential for wind and tidal power
• oil and natural gas off the coast
• Cultural amd archaeological sites off the coast
•35% of coastline has sediment minerals and metal deposits
•North coastline has clay and limestone resources
•Chililka Lake has a bird sanctuary with 150 migratory and resident species
What are risks in Odisha
• In 2011, the Ministry of Environment and Forests released an assessment of shoreline change showing erosion has increased in recent decades, requiring human intervention
• Natural seasonal variation along the coast - accretion in summer and erosion in winter
• odisha is a poor area, so villages have low resilience to storms
• the land is low lying, so it is prone to flooding from storm surges, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change
• cyclones
why is Odisha prone to and affected by cyclones?
•a combination of warm, dry air from northwest India and moist air from the Bay of Bengal creates low-pressure systems, making the Odisha coast prone to cyclones.
•Odisha has a flat coastal zone that is low lying so storm surges cause dramatic flooding
• Coastal communities have low resilience to the storms as they are poor and can’t repair damages from the storm
What industries are in Odisha
• Dairy and poultry
• Fishing
• Coil craft
• Ecotourism
They have multiple industries to diversity the economy so there are multiple income streams
What improvements are being made to improve quality of life
• Lake Chilikis water quality has been improved but measuring the physicochemical and biological parameters of the lake (this is their source of fresh water)
• Olive Ridley’s (endangered turtles) are nurtured
•mangroves are planted on banks to stabilise new land and generate income from the land
What has happend to the mangroves in Odisha: Management of Mahanadi Delta
50 years ago coastal villages in odisha had 5.1 km of mangroves protecting them- now 1.2 km.
During 1999 cyclone villages with 4+km width of mangroves reported no deaths but those with less that 3km had sharply rising death rates.
Sea levels are rising and cyclones are become more frequent
Project planting mangroves on river beds
Describe Lake Chillika and its importance to Odisha
Is a bird sanctuary to 150 species of different bird it’s a salt Lagoon renowned for its wildlife and it becomes less salty due to monsoons the Lakes water quality is being improved by measuring physio chemical a.pnd biological parameters of the lake ( source of water)
In some areas of the coastline of Odisha, there is accretion occurring, meaning land is growing, which is an opportunity.
How is this an opportunity, and why may it not be?
Opportunity (drawbacks)
• new land (unconsolidated/ not compressed so hard to use)
• unconsolidated land is good for agriculture ( is salty, so no crops other than mangroves can grow, the land have to drain the land and use chemicals to remove the salt which is expensive for the poor area )
What did the shoreline assessment show?
○ erosion has increased
○ they found if they attempted to halt erosional processes problems with shift down the coast due to sediment starvation
○ 40% of the coastline is eroding
○ 15% is stable
○
What’s Odisha biggest cyclone?
1999 cyclone which is the largest cyclone in the Indian Ocean it killed over 10,000 people in a d sh and led to them being forced to implement a mitigation system which was proved to be successful in the cyclone Phailin in 2013
