Rebuilding Visakhapatnam Fishermen Community Post Cyclone Hudhud: A Vision for Rehabilitation and Community Restoration

M Lakshmi Narayana Reddy, Prof. Soham Mukhopadhyay

Abstract: The aftermath of natural disasters often plunges communities into chaos, particularly affecting vulnerable groups with context of geographical location, economical and housing condition, which results in encountering of significant hurdles in rebuilding lives and community spaces. Visakhapatnam being one of the coastal cities of India and the most prominent urban center of the Andhra Pradesh state, possess a settlement morphology of 300 years since its inception in the late seventeenth century, has been subjected to feeble natural calamities such as cyclonic impacts at times. In the concerned regard, the HUDHUD cyclone which surfaced in October 2014 in the coastal areas of the Indian states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh was one of its kind in terms of the vulnerable impact it caused in the livelihood of people through major devastations of habitable spaces in certain geographical locations resulting into mass evacuations and loss of lives. The consequent vulnerability was extensively witnessed in the context of Visakhapatnam too. This study delves into the situation of Visakhapatnam?s fisherman community post-Cyclone Hudhud, aiming to outline a thorough strategy for their recovery and community restoration for the purpose of rehabilitating the affected families that has lost their place of habitation.

Keywords: Rebuilding Habitation, Visakhapatnam Fishermen Community, Community Restoration, Cyclone Hudhud