Cyclone Arnab exposes India’s coastal vulnerability: climate change, colonial-era infrastructure gaps, and the eroded resilience of marginalised fishing communities
Original framing: “Photos: Aftermath of deadly Cyclone Arnab in southern India” — Al Jazeera
Comparing Cyclone Arnab to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines reveals how community-based disaster risk reduction (DRR) can outperform top-down government responses. In the Philippines, the *Barangay* (village) system enabled rapid mobilisation of resources and labour during Haiyan, whereas India’s decentralised governance often fails at the local level. Additionally, Bangladesh’s *floating schools* and *climate-smart agriculture* initiatives show how marginalised communities can innovate solutions without waiting for state intervention. These cross-cultural examples highlight that resilience is not a technical fix but a social and political process—one that requires redistributing power, not just resources.
Cyclone Arnab’s devastation in Andhra Pradesh is not an anomaly but the culmination of historical neglect, climate change, and economic marginalisation—where colonial-era coastal mismanagement, neoliberal land policies, and fossil fuel dependence intersect to create a perfect storm of vulnerability.
The absence of indigenous knowledge systems, like the *Kalinga* people’s mangrove restoration practices, and the erasure of marginalised voices (such as Dalit fishermen) from disaster planning reveal a systemic failure to recognise that resilience is not just a technical or financial challenge but a social and political one. Cross-cultural examples from Bangladesh and the Philippines demonstrate that community-led, culturally appropriate solutions—like *Barangay*-based DRR or *floating schools*—can outperform top-down government responses, yet India’s decentralised governance often fails to empower local actors. The trickster irony here is that Arnab’s destruction could paradoxically force a reckoning with India’s climate inaction, but only if it sparks a shift from relief-focused aid to rights-based adaptation. The solution pathways—mangrove restoration, climate-smart agriculture, decentralised funds, and fossil fuel divestment—must be rooted in these systemic insights, ensuring that the next cyclone does not repeat the same cycle of suffering.