Odisha’s Zero-Casualty Playbook Faces Another Test as Cyclone Arnab Nears

Few places on earth have learned as much from storms as Odisha. The eastern Indian state lost around ten thousand people to the 1999 super cyclone; since then it has turned disaster preparedness into something close to a civic routine. Cyclone Arnab, expected to approach the coast around October 28, is the latest test of that system.

A low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal was forecast to deepen over the weekend, and the state government has set its familiar goal: zero casualties. Around 300 response teams have been mobilised, including state disaster units, national disaster response teams and fire services. Schools, colleges and childcare centres in five southern districts, Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri, will close on October 28 and 29. Shelters are being readied, and pregnant women and patients are being moved to safer facilities in advance. Fishermen along the Odisha and Andhra Pradesh coast have been told to stay ashore.

What makes the model work

The strength of Odisha’s approach is not one big technology but many small habits: early warnings repeated through local officials, sturdy multipurpose shelters, volunteers who know which households need help moving, and leave cancellations so staff are on duty when the wind arrives. The aim is simple: get people out of harm’s way before the storm hits, rather than rescuing them afterwards.

The southwest of India, meanwhile, is dealing with a different kind of danger. The weather service has issued red alerts for extremely heavy rain in several Kerala districts and warned of intense rainfall in parts of Tamil Nadu. Landslides and floods there demand the same discipline: heed the warnings early.

If Arnab passes with little loss of life, it will not be luck. It will be the result of a quarter-century of practice.