From cyclone management to community resilience: An empirical study of Cyclone Fengal 2024 in Puducherry, India

Abstract

Cyclone Fengal, which struck the Union Territory (UT) of Pondicherry in late November 2024, offers a critical opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of India's institutional disaster management framework at the sub-national level. This paper presents an empirical study examining the shortcomings of the current management approach and the consequent need to build long-term cyclone resilience. Employing a primary data collection method through structured surveys with affected residents, the study assesses public perception across key dimensions of the disaster response cycle: early warning dissemination, government assistance, and community engagement. The findings reveal a mixed but instructive picture. The state apparatus performed creditably in areas requiring top-down coordination, with respondents reporting reasonable satisfaction with the early warning systems, the timeliness of news dissemination through official channels, and the provision of post-disaster government assistance. However, the analysis exposes a significant structural deficiency: the management strategy largely failed to institutionalise civil society partnerships and grassroots community participation in preparedness, response, and recovery planning. This gap indicates that the prevailing model remains predominantly government-centric and reactive, rather than collaborative and anticipatory. The paper argues that such an approach, while adequate for immediate relief, is insufficient for cultivating durable resilience against increasingly frequent and intense cyclonic events linked to climate variability. Drawing on the Fengal case, the study recommends a paradigm shift toward a decentralised, community-inclusive disaster management model that formally integrates local institutions, civil society organisations, and citizen volunteers into all phases of the disaster management cycle, thereby strengthening both state capacity and societal resilience in coastal India.