Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

With the increasing frequency and magnitude of disasters, it is crucial to understand the long-term consequences of these events. Disasters have a disproportionate impact on certain segments of population that are more vulnerable. The children especially from developing countries are at risk from natural disasters with long-lasting effects. Children, especially the younger ones are not much prepared to face the intensive risk caused by the disaster, mainly due to their particular physical, social, psychological characteristics, which makes them vulnerable to disasters. In most post-disaster situations children are bracketed with women, thus the comprehensive picture that shows the specific needs and vulnerabilities of children are missing. This study is crucial as most disaster risk reduction programmes concentrates on the protection of the infrastructural damage rather than looking at the long-term human dimensions of loss, for instance, the negative impact of disaster on the health of children in a disaster-prone state like Odisha. In this paper by reviewing the existing literature I analyze how disasters have an indirect and long-term impact on the physical health of the children and why there is a need to research and analyze children’s health in post-disaster situations, by taking the case of 2019 cyclone Fani, Odisha, India.