Project

India: Poverty in the Age of Climate Change

On October 12, 2014, Cyclone Hudhud slammed into India’s southeast coast, pounding the city of Visakhapatnam with 135 mile-an-hour winds that ripped apart the homes of those living in the slums. Months after the storm, many in the slums are still struggling to pay off debt taken from private moneylenders to rebuild their homes and acquire basic necessities after the storm.

Most members of Visakhapatnam’s higher economic classes, who live in sturdy apartment buildings, suffered only broken windows and had no lingering financial consequences.

This project looks into the stricken community of Visakhapatnam, delving into the lives of individuals who lost their homes and were forced into debt. Through their stories, we see a chilling phenomenon of climate change: that its most desperate victims are the economically disenfranchised, those least responsible for global carbon emissions.