Kendrapada: Women in disaster-prone areas of Kendrapada district are facing growing health risks during and af ter natural calamities such as floods and cyclones, with inadequate sanitation and healthcare facilities at relief shelters worsening their condition, residents and experts said.
Kendrapada, which has a 48-km coastline, remains vulnerable to floods, cyclones and tidal surges.
Officials estimate that about 28 per cent of the area of the district is at risk of tidal water intrusion, while 744.47 km of embankments under the Aali Embankment Division are considered vulnerable.
Flood waters from the Mahanadi and Brahmani river systems regularly inundate 455 villages through seven rivers and 27 major canals.
During disasters, residents of more than 200 villages are often relocated to cyclone shelters.
Women are among the worst affected due to the lack of separate toilets, limited access to clean water and inadequate menstrual hygiene facilities.
Social activists, doctors and intellectuals have called for mandatory health screenings for displaced women after disasters.
A woman from Rajnagar said many women develop stomach ailments and gynaecological problems after spending several days in overcrowded shelters due to poor sanitation and water shortages.
She said she faced some gynaecological problems during her stay and was cured after undergoing treatment for over two months.
Similar symptoms were reported among many other displaced women as over 300 persons were staying in one cyclone shelter.
All of them were using a single toilet, she added. Intellectual Pratap Chandra Tripathy said district administrations typically focus on evacuation and providing cooked food during floods and cyclones but often overlook women’s health needs.
He said people use cyclone and flood shelters as temporary refuge, but the facilities lack adequate infrastructure to address health-related concerns.
In many parts of the district, the absence of river embankments causes floodwaters to inundate villages, where water often remains stagnant for weeks or even months.
During this period, women’s health receives little attention, he said.
Tripathy said menstrual hygiene, including access to sanitary pads and healthcare services, should be a priority during disasters.
Health risks continue even after floodwaters recede, as many communities rely on drinking water collected from submerged sources.
He stressed the need for immediate sanitation and environmental clean-up to prevent disease outbreaks.
Social worker Manoj Kumar Nayak said most residents in the coastal belt belong to Bengali-speaking and Dalit communities, where health awareness remains limited.
He said muddy conditions following floods and cyclones increase the risk of waterborne diseases.
Nayak called for greater awareness of menstrual hygiene among women and recommended deploying dedicated medical teams to affected areas after natural disasters.
Additional District Medical Officer (ADMO) Dr Sachidanan da Mishra said protecting wom en’s health during floods and cyclones is a priority.
He said ASHAs are alerted in every village, while medical teams conduct health checkups in af fected areas.
Mishra added that greater awareness of hygiene and sanitation is still needed and that awareness campaigns have been underway in rural areas since the onset of monsoon.
