ABSTRACT
Tropical cyclones are among the most frequent and fiercely destructive natural hazards, causing massive losses of property and livelihoods throughout coastal India. However, multidimensional impact assessment of such disturbances on coastal urban landscape, specifically focusing on the impacts on composition and the extent of urban vegetation cover, remains limited in India. In this regard, this study helped to explore the widespread effects of the extremely severe cyclone Fani (landfall on May 3, 2019) on the vegetation dynamics of the coastal town of Puri in Odisha, India. Keeping in mind the trend and feasibility of open source software applications and datasets, freely available Sentinel-2A datasets of pre- and post-Fani phases were analyzed using the geospatial platform QGIS to derive the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) of different municipal wards of Puri. Moreover, primary data, collected by the structured questionnaire surveys after the cyclone, was statistically examined using the open source Google Docs Spreadsheets. The results of NDVI-based assessments depicted a remarkable reduction of greenery in the entire town except for its few relatively inland wards. As evidenced by the alarmingly low NDVI values of the post-Fani phase, the vegetation cover of the beach-front areas was completely wiped out by the combined effects of violent winds and sea surges. The process of regenerating green cover, in both extent and vigor, was identified as a time-consuming one by the locals. Nevertheless, proper zone-wise as well as land use–dependent plantation strategies were inferred to be imperative for restoration of the lost ecological structure. The planting of a few relevant species and mechanisms for their management were suggested for this purpose.
