Citation

Dash B. Public Underst. Sci. 2014; 24(8): 970-987.

Affiliation

Tata Institute of Social Science, India dashvishy@yahoo.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Institute of Physics in association with the Science Museum, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0963662514553203

PMID

25313142

Abstract

In spite of meteorological warning, many human lives are lost every year to cyclone mainly because vulnerable populations were not evacuated on time to a safe shelter as per recommendation. It raises several questions, most prominently what explains people's behaviour in the face of such danger from a cyclonic storm? How do people view meteorological advisories issued for cyclone and what role they play in defining the threat? What shapes public response during such situation? This article based on an ethnographic study carried out in coastal state of Odisha, India, argues that local public recognising inherent limitations of meteorological warning, fall back on their own system of observation and forecasting. Not only are the contents of cyclone warning understood, its limitations are accommodated and explained.

Language: en