Satabhaya Island- Odisha - Satabhaya, a coastal village located in Kendrapara district, is one of the foremost victims of coastal erosion and submergence due to rising sea levels.

The once idyllic coastal village used to be a cluster of seven villages, or ‘seven brothers’. Inhabiting these lush floodplains was an agricultural community of about 3,000 people who cultivated paddy and fished in the local freshwater ponds.
Since the massive cyclone of 1971, six of these villages—Gobindapur, Mohanpur, Kanhupur, Chintamanipur, Badagahiramatha, and Kharikula—slowly began to disappear into the sea, one after another.
Today, as the rate of coastal erosion swiftly escalates, Satabhaya faces a fate similar to that of its six brothers.
Unable to cope with the loss of their homes to the sea and their lands to saline ingress, year after year, an increasing number of families migrate away from the hamlet. The ones that choose to remain, retreat inwards, away from the sea. In Kendrapara district, several villages in Satabhaya were inundated by the sea and many of the villagers became climate refugees and were settled in villages like Bagapatia.

1. The Sinking Island An Exploration into the lives of Climate Refugees from Satabhaya Island , Odisha Presented by Himani Singh

2. Outline Introduction Literature Review Objectives of Study Research Questions Methodology Rationale of the study References

3. Introduction This study is an overview of the climate change scenario in Odisha, anthropogenic causes leaving them as first climate refugees of the country. The project aims to present a critical analysis of coastal adaptation measures implemented by the government of Odisha, a low-lying province on the east coast of India, in villages affected by cyclones and coastal erosion. The key objective of this analysis is to assess the long-term viability of these measures and their impacts on the resilience of the coastal ecosystem .  

4. T he now-abandoned Panchu   Barahi  Temple on the Satabhaya coastline, whose resident deities have been shifted elsewhere / Credit: Priya Ranjan Sahu . 

5. A Satabhaya resident says the Bay of Bengal has swallowed up 10 tube wells in their village in the past two decades. ( Credits:Ashish Nandy )

6. Research Gap While most of the existing policies in India address displacement from rapid-onset disasters such as monsoons and cyclones under disaster reduction and rehabilitation policies, displacement due to slow-onset disasters such as coastal erosion has yet to find a place at the policy level.  Though the local-level policies have responded to displacement in coastal communities, the response has not addressed many current and future impacts resulting from sea-level rise and coastal flooding.  .

7. Literature Review A 2017 study on Indian shoreline change occurring between 1989–2001 revealed the highest percentage of erosion occurred in Odisha (50 percent). Odisha continues to face frequent cyclones and visible impacts of sea-level rise and coastal inundation along its coast on the Bay of Bengal. India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences estimates 28 percent of Odisha’s 550 kilometers of coastline experienced erosion between 1990 and 2016, with half of the coastal line accreting (e.g. its coastal sediment becoming visible).

8. Research Questions 1. How Climate change is disrupting the lives of the local people in terms of social, cultural and environmental aspects? How policies are framed in regard to climate refugees and climate induced displacement? Effective disaster mitigation strategies for the locally affected people and coastal adaptation measures taken for them

9. Research Objectives The noticeable socio-economic impacts of climate change with respect to various sectors in Satabhaya Odisha; Analysis of the living conditions in the new resettlement colony Bagapatia To examine the perspectives of development from the viewpoint of climate refugees

10. Efforts towards Rehabilitation Close to 571 families have been rehabilitated thus far. The district administration sent people to a colony in Bagapatia , 12 km away in 2018. Orders have been issued to rehabiltate 118 of the remaining 148 families, and the other 30 would be done once paperwork clears. 10 decimals of land and sum of Rupees 1.5 Lacs for construction of Pucca houses under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana . The state government has attempted using geo tubes in areas like Pentha in Kendrapara and growing mangrove plants in coastal areas which are thought to be a lifeline for coastal areas as they prevent sea erosion.

11. Field of Study The study area Satabhaya village is situated in Teshil Rajnagar , District Kendrapa.ra and in State of Odisha, India.

12. Methodology Primary: Primary: Ethnographic research through interviews Secondary: Departments, Research/ Developmental Organizations, published papers, available literatures on internet etc . and compiled to have a comprehensive information at one place . ( The detail of sources of information is given in the references at the end.) Both Primary and Second Sources of Data Collection .

13. Deliverables Lorem ipsum congue Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum 3. Framing policy in sync with the needs of the people Lorem ipsum Providing a p erspective of the locals going through social and cultural change drastically 2. Helps Understand the current scenario of climate refugees in the country

14. References: Kumar, S.V., Pathak , K.C., Pednekar , P.N., Raju , S.N. and Gowthaman,R . 2006. Coastal processes along the Indian coastline.91(4): 530-536. Ertuna , C. 1995. Water Resources Development and Management in Asia and the Pacific, Environmental Soil and water Management: PastExperience and Future Direction pp 1-36 Chittibabu , P., Dube , S.K., MacNabb , J.B., Murty , T.S., Rao , A.D., Mohanty , U.C. and Sinha P.C. 2004. Mitigation of flooding andcyclone hazard in Odisha, India. Natural Hazards, 31:455–485 https://www.preventionweb.net/news/bangladesh-battling-climate-induced-displacement)