One of India’s worst climate hotspots, Odisha experiences floods, cyclones, storms, droughts, among other natural disasters. With extreme weather conditions, the 492 km stretch coast spread across six coastal districts have seen heavy land erosion in the past.
Kendrapara is among the six districts in the most vulnerable hotspots—namely Pentha, Gahirmatha and Satabhya—that witness high erosion.
“The impact is so serious that since the 1970s, five villages have washed away in the sea. The government relocated the villagers to neighbouring locations. It is not a new concept for locals. One of the fresh instances is around 2017-18 when five villages from Satbhaya gram panchayat vanished from the map. Over 700 locals were moved to Bagapatia village by the government,” says Bijay Kumar Kabi, an environmentalist.
Bijay says that the government tried to install geosynthetic tubes to prevent soil erosion along the boundaries, but it could not stop it. “No technology can…