Main Article Content

Abstract

Increased frequency and intensity of coastal hazards over the past few decades in Kerala coast is alarming. Flooding, coastal erosion and inundation have become a yearly phenomenon. Within the past two decades alone Kerala witnessed three major disasters (i) Tsunami in 2004  (ii) Cyclone Ockhi in 2017 and (iii) August 2018 L-3 level flooding which drowned the entire state. Marine fishing communities were major victims in all three disasters. They remained socio-economically vulnerable as fishing was a caste based subsistence occupation; politically vulnerable, as religious leaders used them against a prominent political party. Spatially vulnerable as more than 50 % of Kerala’s beaches are in constantly eroding trend.

Article Details