Disasters - natural and man-made frequent Odisha. Droughts, cyclones, floods ravage people's lives periodically compounding the situation of poverty. Bhadrak is one of the hazard-prone districts of Odisha. Chandabali is known as the most vulnerable blocks of Bhadrak. This block encounters one form of calamity or another--flood, cyclone, heat wave or drought--almost every year. Besides these natural hazards, fire accidents cause loss of life and damage to property during summer season. Some cases of death due to lightning also occur during rainy season.

The socio-economic vulnerability and marginalization of the people turns these natural hazards into disasters. With nearly 99% of the population living in highly disaster-prone areas and about 70% below poverty line, the coping mechanism of the block and its people are continuously under severe strain.

Keeping all this in view, several initiatives have been taken by PJS to prepare the community to meet the challenges posed by natural disasters, but the frequency and gravity of the disasters give little scope to reap the benefits of these initiatives. The block also experiences medium floods frequently. Owing to late arrival of Monsoon, and scanty and inadequate rainfall during the month of August, the inter-cultural activities like transplantation work are delayed and it is further observed that due to erratic monsoon, moisture-stress conditions put the farming community in disarray. With the completion of one decade of planned development intervention with a uniquely holistic approach, PJS has a total intensive outreach of 217638 population of 37531 households of 33 Gram Panchayats covering 224 villages in Chandaballi block of Bhadrak District.