Most of the families in Pudurnadu area of Jawadhu Hills, in Tamil Nadu rely on rainfed agriculture as the main source of income, making the entire tribal economy solely dependent on rainfall. Being a landlocked area with very limited transport facilities, had made the mainstream institutional services like banking and market virtually inaccessible to tribal community. Same is the case with accessing other basic civic amenities like health and higher educational services. Inadequate marketing opportunities remain as an impediment to take up commercial crop cultivation, keeping the individual household economy at a subsistence level. This systemic issue makes most of the families in this area to live in a state of the deprivation and poverty as reflected in high percentage of BPL families in total families (above 60%).

There is a need to enhance the livelihoods through enhancing disaster preparedness of the tribal farmers. It is necessary to capitalise the existing disaster mitigation and coping practices and combining them with appropriate measures.

Pudurnadu, Nellivasalnadu and Pungampattunadu Panchayats in Jawadhu Hills covering a population of 25,000, where the tribal farmers practice rainfed farming and face issues pertaining to rainfed cultivation in addition to inadequate service infrastructure.

• Identifying and understanding various disasters faced by the tribal rainfed farmers in Pudurnadu; various measures adopted by the farmers to manage the negative impact of various disasters and the gaps.
• Evolving intervention measures through an effective model of disaster preparedness relevant to the agro-ecological and socio economic setting.

• A report on various disasters faced by the tribal rainfed farmers in Pudurnadu, various measures adopted by the farmers to manage the negative impact of various disasters.