This presentation discusses cyclones as natural disasters that impact India. It provides an introduction and outline, defines natural disasters and the types of natural disasters including cyclones. It discusses cyclones in India, their impacts, and management approaches. Specific details are given about cyclones in India from the Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2016. Maps show the occurrences, deaths, and people affected by natural disasters in Southern Asia including India in 2016. The conclusion emphasizes the need for accurate forecasting and awareness to reduce cyclone damage, while recommendations focus on early warning systems, disaster risk reduction, and private sector participation.

1. PRESENTATION ON THE TOPIC - “LOCAL
RESPONSES TO CYCLONE
DISASTERS:EXPERIENCES FROM INDIA”

2. Presentation Outline
• Introduction
• Natural Disasters
• Natural Disasters in India
• Cyclone – A Natural Disaster
• Cyclones in India, Impact and
Management
• Cyclones in India – Experiences
• Conclusion
• Recommendations

3. Introduction
The topic is significantly essential for everyone to be aware of as every
human is an architect, who designs the present, with the awareness of the past, for a
future which is essentially unknown.
The report relies on the secondary data and published research work by
Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)”, 2016.
The focal point of this report is the experiences of people who suffered the
tropical cyclones that have hit India in past decade.
Thus, there is a need of awareness about the strength and capability of a
cyclone so that everyone always remains prepared to safe guard one’s life and of
others as well; as knowledge makes one stronger, it lets control life and it is the
only thing that makes one smile in the face of disaster.

4. NATURAL DISASTERS
Definition: Natural disasters are the changes that are so great that
may cause damage to the shape of the land or to the lives of
the people and other living things.
Types: Disasters are of two major types – natural and manmade.
• As the names imply, natural disasters are caused by the earth’s
natural processes that occur on a regular basis whereas
manmade disasters are due to human actions.
Approach: If an earthquake or tsunami occurs in the middle of
an ocean and we are not affected by it, we don’t consider that
a disaster. Hence, disaster is purely from an anthropogenic
point of view, and thus all disasters are “manmade” to a
certain extent

5. TYPES OF NATURAL
DISASTERS:-
A) Geological disasters
1 Avalanches and landslides- outward and
downward slope movement of materials &/or
snow. Eg: avalanches during the mountain
campaign in the Alps at the Austrian-Italian front,
during the World war 1.
2 Earthquakes - the Earthquake is the violent
shaking of the ground. Eg: latur earthquake
3 Sinkholes - When natural erosion or human
mining makes the ground too weak to support the
structures built on it, the ground can collapse and
produce a sinkhole. Eg:the 2010 Guatemala City
sinkhole
4 Volcanic eruptions- spurting out of gases hot
lava and ash from an opening in the Earths crust.
Eg: at Lake Toba

6. C) Hydrological disasters:
1 Floods - A flood is an overflow of
water that 'submerges' land.
Eg: The kedarnath flood
2 Limnic eruptions - A limnic
eruption occurs when a gas,
usually CO2, suddenly erupts from
deep lake water, posing the threat of
suffocating wildlife, livestock and
humans.
Eg: eruption in Lake Monoun ,1984
3 Tsunami - the displacement of a large
volume of water, generally in an
ocean or a large lake. Eg: near
Fukushima, Japan ,2011
B) Meteorological disasters
1 Blizzards - Blizzards are severe winter storms characterized
by heavy snow and strong winds. Eg: The Great Blizzard
of 1888
2 Cyclonic storms - a fierce storm with storm winds that spins
around it in a giant circle.Eg: Bhola cyclone,1970
3 Droughts unusual dryness of soil caused by below average
rainfall over a prolonged period.Eg: in Texas,2011
4 Thunderstorms - Severe storms, dust clouds, and volcanic
eruptions can generate lightning and can damage
buildings, ignite fires and kill by direct contact. Eg: crash
of LANSA Flight 508
5 Hailstorms - rain drops that fall as ice, rather than melting
before they hit the ground. Eg: hit Munich, Germany, on
July 12, 1984
6 Heat waves - a period of unusually and excessively hot
weather. Eg:The 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer .
7 Tornadoes - a violent and dangerous rotating column of air
that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and
a cumulonimbus cloud,also known as twister or
a cyclone. wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour
(177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (80 m) across
and to an extreme of more than 300 mph (480 km/h),
stretch more than two miles (3 km) across. Eg: Moore
Tornado,2013

7. D) Wildfires -Wildfires are large fires which often start in wildland areas. Common
causes include lightning and drought but wildfires may also be started by human
negligence .Eg: 1871 Peshtigo Fire in the United States.
E) Space disasters - Asteroids that impact the Earth have led to several major
extinction events, including one which created the Chicxulub crater 64.9 million years
ago and which is associated with the demise of the dinosaurs.Eg: 1490 Ch'ing-yang
event
1 Solar flare - a phenomenon where the sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar
radiation, much more than normal. Eg: The most powerful flare ever recorded occurred
on November 4, 2003

8. How different was 2016?
By “Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2016 “
General overview
OCCURRENCE: The number of reported natural disasters in 2016 (342) is the third
lowest since 2006, showing a decrease of 13.4% compared to the 2015 number
(395).
The number of;
 climatological disasters (38) was the fourth highest since 2006
 geophysical disasters (31) was almost equal to its annual average (31.6)
 hydrological disasters (177) showed a small decrease compared to the 2015 number
(184)
 meteorological disasters (96) showed a significant decrease in 2016 and was the
lowest reported since 2006
Total Deaths
 The number people killed by disasters in 2016 (8,733) was significantly below the
value for 2015 (22,884)
 For hydrological disasters the number of deaths in 2016 was 23.5% below its 2006-
2015 annual average,
 while for each of the other disaster types the decrease exceeded 90 %.

9. Total People affected
 The number of people reported affected by natural disasters in 2016 (569 million)
was the highest since 2006, after the last highest of 2015 (441 millions). Reason
being increased climatological and meteorological disasters
 total of those who suffered from hydrological disasters (78 million) . Reason being
2 floods in China which affected, 105 and 134 million people
 geographical disasters affected 2.2 million people, third lowest since 2006.
Total Damages
 The estimated economic losses from natural disasters in 2016 (US$ 154 billion)
were the fourth highest since 2006
 Costs from meteorological (US$ 47 billion) To compare, Hurricane Sandy in the
USA in 2012, caused more damages (almost US$ 52 billion) than all
meteorological disasters, worldwide, in 2016.
 Damages from climatological (US$ 16 billion) and hydrological (US$ 59 billion)
disasters were, both, the second highest since 2006

10. Figure :1Figure :1

11. NATURAL DISASTERS IN INDIA
• Almost 59% of India’s landmass is prone to earthquakes;
• over 12% of land is prone to floods
• about 76% of the coastline is prone to cyclones and tsunamis
• 68% of the cultivable area is drought-prone
• hilly areas are subjected to wet and dry landslides and avalanches.
• Around 2% of the GDP is lost due to disasters
COMMON NATURAL DISASTERS IN INDIA WITH THEIR AFFECTED REGIONS
NATURAL DISASTER AFFECTED REGIONS IN INDIA
Landslides and Avalanches Landslides: in the Lower
Himalayas, Parts of the Western
Ghats
Avalanches: in Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, and Sikkim.
Floods heavy southwest monsoon rains
cause the Brahmaputra to
overflow, central India
Cyclones In the coastal regions, northern of
the Indian Ocean in and around
the Bay of Bengal

12. INDIA’S CURRENT SITUATION
-Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2016 The numbers and trends BY
“Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)”
 In 2016, 108 countries and territories were
hit by disasters, of which The five countries
most often hit were China, the United States,
India, Indonesia and the Philippines, which
accounted for 30.1% of total disaster
occurrences in 2016
Fig. AFig. A
 India stood at 4th
position among the top
ten contries in terms of numbers of deaths
by natural disasters in 2016 .

13.  The top 4 Asian countries accounted
for 72.9% of all people reported affected
worldwide, with the drought in India
representing, alone, 58.6% of these
people. (fig. B)
 India lies on the 1st
rank (fig. C) where
there remain the maximum number of
people affected in 2016.
Fig. BFig. B
Fig. CFig. C

14.  Eight countries(Fig. D) in the list are
lower-middle income (India, Vietnam and
the Philippines) economies and dominate.
However ,India (58.6% of all people
affected by disasters in the world);
Fig. DFig. D
 (In Fig E )In India, the 2016 costs
are slightly below their annual average
(US$ 4.4 billion)
Fig. EFig. E

15. MAP 1: Here Southern Asia ( that includes
India) has 40 occurences of natural disasters
per sub-continent in 2016
MAP 2: Here Southern Asia ( that includes
India) has 2210 total deaths per sub-
continent in 2016
MAP 3: Here Southern Asia ( that includes
India) has 338mil total affected per sub-
continent in 2016

16. CYCLONE- A NATURAL DISASTER
 Nomenclature
Henry Piddington coined the term cyclone, meaning the coil of a snake.
 A storm is generally referred to as a Cyclone, Hurricane or Typhoon based on where the
storm takes place.
• Cyclones take place over the Indian Ocean
• Hurricanes take place over the North Atlantic Ocean
• Typhoons take place over the Pacific Ocean
 MEANING
Cyclones are huge revolving storms caused by winds blowing around a central area of low
atmospheric pressure .
 OCCURRENCE
• Cyclones develop over warm seas near the Equator.
• Air heated by the sun rises very swiftly, which creates areas of very low pressure.
• As the warm air rises, it becomes loaded with moisture which condenses into massive
thunderclouds.
• Cool air rushes in to fill the void that is left, but because of the constant turning of the Earth
on its axis, the air is bent inwards and then spirals upwards with great force.
• The swirling winds rotate faster and faster, forming a huge circle which can be up to 2,000 km
across.
• At the centre of the storm is a calm, cloudless area called the eye, where there is no rain,
and the winds are fairly light.

17. Cyclone Danger

18. TYPES OF CYCLONES
A) Surface-based types : cyclones identifiable in synoptic charts.
Extratropical cyclone - often described as "depressions" or "lows" by weather
forecasters and the general public.
Polar low - small-scale, short-lived atmospheric low-pressure system (depression)
 found over the ocean areas poleward of the main polar front in both the Northern
and Southern Hemispheres.
Subtropical - a weather system that has some characteristics of a tropical cyclone and
some characteristics of an extratropical cyclone
Tropical - system characterized by a low-pressure center and
numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding rain.

19. B) Upper level types
Polar cyclone - A polar, sub-polar, or Arctic cyclone or polar vortex)is a vast area of
low pressure that strengthens in the winter and weakens in the summer.
TUTT cell - the Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough (TUTT), which is located mid-
ocean in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer months
Cyclones not identifiable in synoptic charts:
Mesocyclone - Air rises and rotates around a vertical axis, usually in the same
direction as low-pressure systems in both northern and southern hemisphere.
Tornado - a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of
the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud
Dust devil - a strong/energetic, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind(air
column moving in rapid funnel shape)
Waterspout – a rotating column of water formed by a whirlwind
Steam devil – weak whirlwind that forms fog and water vapours.
Fire whirl - a whirlwind induced by a fire and often made up of flame or ash.

20. CYCLONE PRONE AREAS IN INDIA

21. Destruction caused by Cyclones
Strong winds/Squalls:
• Through high-speed winds, cyclones cause severe damage to the infrastructure.
• Installations, dwellings, communication system etc. get destroyed resulting in loss
of life and property.
Torrential rains and Inland flooding:
• Continuous rains cause floods resulting in loss of shelter.
• Also, heavy rains due to cyclone cause landslides, soil erosion and weaken the
embankments.
Storm surge:
• An abnormal rise in sea level near the coast due to severe tropical cyclone
results in the drowning of low lying areas in the coastal region.
• It results in loss of lives, destruction of vegetation and the salt content in
seawater reduces the soil fertility

22. Management of Cyclones
Structural measures include:
• construction of cyclone shelters,
• construction of cyclone resistant buildings,
• road links,
• culverts, bridges, canals, drains, saline embankments, surface water tanks,
communication and
• power transmission networks etc.
Non-structural measures :
• early warning dissemination systems,
• management of coastal zones,
• awareness generation and disaster risk management and
• capacity building of all the stakeholders involved.
 These measures are being adopted and tackled on State to State basis under
National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) being implemented through
World Bank Assistance.

23. List of tropical cyclone with their affected regions,
deaths and damages
are tabulated in the excel file.

24. CONCLUSION
Although its not easy to control the damage caused by natural calamities but they
can be reduced by:
 accurate forecast
 prior announcement of wanings by the weather forecast department
 awareness among the people about disaster preparedness.
 Creation of better platforms to resist cyclonic storms rather than just opting for the
method of evacuation of people

25. RECOMMENDATIONS
• Establishments of early warning system and technical competence
• Built Back Better Program like that of Gujarat government after 2001 earthquake
• Disaster Risk Reduction should be an important aspect of global poverty
reduction initiatives.
• Moving from a risk blind approach to a risk-informed decision when it comes to
investments.
• There should be a Disaster Risk Audit for the future developmental project for
both public and private entities.
• Disaster Risk Reduction program should be more people-centric.
• There is a need for private sector participation in designing and implementing
policies, plans, and standards.
• Need of Disaster Management program to be inclusive including women, civil
society, and academia.
• State governments should increase their engagements in scientific research
institution for a better formulation of policies

26. Thank- You!