




































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 3 (1): 131–136, January 2020 

 
NOTES FROM THE FIELD  
 

Vulnerabilities and Resilience in post-Fani Chilika: 
Lessons from the Field 
 

Shreyashi Bhattacharya  
 
1. INTRODUCTION 

Payal, a young married woman in her 20s, is a housewife in the village of 
Aloopatna who helps her husband in fishing and associated works. She 
speaks two languages other than Odiya – Hindi and Bengali, quite an 
exception in the village. She narrates in Hindi, how recent disasters and 
state apathy threatens the survival of every fishing family in Chilika. Her 
words simultaneously bespeak the fact that despite being subjected to 
frequent natural calamities, the Chilika lagoon presents an interesting 
ecosystem of dependence and survival, embedded within rich socio-cultural 
narratives. 

The women of Aloopatna and Brahmapur welcome the guests with a 
traditional arati thali (a plate with sacred offerings), putting vermillion spots 
on their foreheads and offering them the beverages. The grim despair of 
their lives, associated with natural disasters, remains masked even as they 
welcome the guests. 

The main objective of the field school programme in Chilika Lagoon, 
organized by the School of Enterprise, Environment and Development 
(SEED), University of Waterloo, the Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the 
Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and 
NIRMAN, was to understand the idea of resilience in disaster prone 
vulnerable communities of the lagoon. The fields of our study were two 

                                                           
 Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology 
Kharagpur; Kharagpur, India - 721302; shreyashi.b123@gmail.com  

Copyright © Bhattacharya 2020. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581-6152 (print); 2581-6101 (web). 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i1.98  

https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i1.98


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [132] 

villages – Brahmapur and Aloopatna, situated on the coast of the lagoon, 
both affected by cyclone Fani in May 2019.1 

 

2. ADAPTING IN A VOLATILE ENVIRONMENT 

Resilience refers to the development of coping abilities in adverse situations 
that can be characterized as a continuation of several risk-prone situations 
that make communities vulnerable. Our field observations provided 
interesting insights into community lives. It presented us the ground 
realities beyond statistical reports that are important in formulating 
livelihood rehabilitation strategies in the post-disaster period. The roads of 
Brahmapur and Aloopatna, aflush with the uprooted trees and broken 
structures stood witness to the devastation people had endured. Many 
villagers in Brahmapur, where houses were destroyed, were living in 
makeshift shelters of tarpaulin roof covers. 

Elderly women, primarily fishworkers, complained about the reduction in 
fish yield in the aftermath of the cyclone. The government has doled out 
abysmally low compensation, INR 3000 per affected household.  

Communities are vulnerable irrespective of natural disasters. The villages of 
Chilika, too, encounter struggles in their daily lives with declining income 
from fishing and corporate encroachments, including fencing of designated 
fishing zones by powerful private lobbies at the cost of community fishing 
rights and access. The villagers continue to use coal as cooking fuel, which 
has a massive impact on the environment, as LPG cylinders are expensive. 
Housing allowances under Indira Awas Yojna were distributed based on a 
beneficiary’s political affiliation. The number of cyclone shelters is also 
inadequate and needs maintenance, further revealing the despondency of 
the situation. 

Despite multiple challenges, villagers refuse to leave the place as they 
consider the lagoon as their mother. They say that Chilika has taken care of 
them since they were small children, so, leaving the region would equate to 
abandoning their roots, they say. Coping mechanisms in the aftermath of 
Fani are also largely attributed to this local socio-cultural belief system. Such 
coping strategies reveal not only their ability to overcome the trauma but 
also the desperation behind it. 

                                                           
1 Fani was a category 4 cyclone that hit the Indian state of Odisha on 3 May 2019, mostly 
affecting Puri and Khordha district. Claimed to be the strongest tropical cyclone since the 
supercyclone of 1999, Fani left a trail of destruction of approximately Rs 24,176 crores in the 
state (India Today 2019). 



[133] Shreyashi Bhattacharya 

Figures 1 and 2: Destruction caused by Fani in Brahmapur and Aloopatna 

 

 

Picture courtesy: Author 

 

 

 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [134] 

3. GENDERED RENDERINGS 

The women in Chilika shared an interesting relationship with the 
ecosystem. The concept of motherland among them transcends normative 
definitions: the lake is their land, livelihood and culture. A subtle practice of 
social forestry was noticed among the women of these villages. They only 
use dry fuelwood or leaves for household construction purposes as they 
believe the land surrounding Chilika is a holistic representation of the lake. 
In the midst of the cyclone, locked up in their houses and hearing the 
raging sounds, their only solace was prayers to Ma Chilika, who they 
consider their saviour. They sang hymns and songs to appease their mother 
and request her to protect them.  

Women are proficient in making pickles, papads, curd and handicrafts that 
can find them a separate niche in the market. There are local Self-Help 
Groups (SHG) that have helped empower rural women by giving them the 
opportunities to transform their skills into an economic engagement. Omm 
Gayatri Jute Cluster (in collaboration with District Supply and Marketing 
Society (DSMS), Puri), run by a woman named Manasi, is an SHG where 
rural women sell home-made bags, purses and stationeries made of jute. all 
products are low-cost and biodegradable. Its SHG members’ average 
earning is INR 5000, and a source of inspiration for the women in 
Brahmapur and Aloopatna. The women of Chilika do not take part in 
fishing but help in other associated works like cleaning boats and the fish. 
During a focused group discussion, it was apparent that the elderly women 
agreed with the men in the village that housewives should not be part of the 
employed workforce. However, women of the younger generation are eager 
to participate in various economic opportunities.  

 

4. LIFE ROLLS ON… 

The visits to the villages in Chilika provided a profound understanding of 
the challenges and resilience of the fishing communities. One of the key 
strategies required for building resilience in a vulnerable community is to 
have a detailed understanding of their socio-economic profile that is 
determined by specific political-economic imperatives of the statecraft. As 
the villagers said, the government officials visited the villages after Fani only 
to calculate the losses, there seems to be a lack of follow up procedures by 
the authorities in rehabilitating these communities into their regular 
livelihood. How can a person suffering from financial and identity crisis and 
frequent ecological trauma be compensated? Is the development of coping 
strategies among these communities in Chilika a result of the apathy 
towards vulnerable groups in rural regions?  



[135] Shreyashi Bhattacharya 

The divisiveness among the communities as a result of the caste system and 
political affiliations makes them more exposed to the calamities. It is 
unfortunate how superstitious beliefs sometimes blur the lines between 
traditions or culture and ignorance, thus affecting survival practices. This 
can be realized through some of the narratives from Brahmapur, where 
people chose to stay in the island, partly due to miscommunication but 
mainly because they believed God would will save them, despite the alerts 
from the government. By the time they realized the danger, it was 
impossible to get on the boats arranged by the government to get them on 
the mainland as the waves in the lake had turned violent. 

However, having faced such massive destruction, the people aren’t devoid 
of hope. According to them, surviving Fani has given them the will to 
endure more. Women seemed much more receptive of engaging in the 
workforce after our visit. Formulating backup livelihood strategies can 
provide them a safety net to cope up with the challenges without devoicing 
their identity and relationship with Chilika. 

 

5. CONCLUSION 

While leaving Brahmapur, a young boy who had come with his mother in 
the FGD, lightly pulled my sleeve and asked me something in Odiya. As I 
looked for someone to translate, he grew impatient and left with his 
mother. One of the women in the group, who could speak broken Hindi, 
translated that the little boy was asking if before leaving the place, I can 
help them in rebuilding his school that was used as a cyclone shelter and is 
now in need of repair. As I recalled the boy’s desperation and impatience, I 
wondered how many interactive academic groups he has been part of to 
have developed such impatience. Recollecting the tragedy to answer queries 
from academics, year after year while receiving no concrete solution can be 
understandably exhausting and add to the trauma of the community.  

It is imperative that academics share a collective responsibility of giving 
something back to these communities- through some tangible action plans 
that might benefit them in future disaster scenarios. Such action plans 
might be informed by an understanding of the current challenges, making 
people aware of possible causes and providing them with simple strategies 
that would alleviate their problems in the long run.  

 

 

 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [136] 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Jenia Mukherjee and Amrita Sen gave suggestions on the initial drafts of 
this article. The author also acknowledges Priyadarshi Patnaik, Coordinator, 
Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, IIT Kharagpur 
and Prateep Nayak, SEED, the University of Waterloo for providing her 
with the opportunity to participate in the week-long field school in Chilika, 
Odisha. The residents of Aloopatna and Brahmapur are deeply 
acknowledged for being generous with their time in giving us, and to the 
larger world, the opportunity to know their challenges and dreams. 

 

REFERENCES 

India Today. 2019. “Cyclone Fani caused Rs 24,176 crore damage in Odisha: 
Report.” India Today August 6, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. 
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/odisha-cyclone-fani-damage-1577841-2019-08-06 

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/odisha-cyclone-fani-damage-1577841-2019-08-06

