Rows of nondescript houses, some left half-built and some still under construction, are neatly spread out in Bagapatia in Odisha’s Kendrapara district. Since 2018, the village has been home to 571 families that were moved here as the Bay of Bengal began to inundate their old homes in Satabhaya village. This makes Bagapatia India’s first rehabilitation settlement for people displaced by coastal erosion.

It had rained the day before when we visited in June and the roads had muddy puddles of water. When we reached Malati Baral’s house, her four grandchildren were prancing around. “Every time it rains, we have water all around,” said 62-year-old Baral. “At times, our houses are flooded.”

Waterlogging is only one problem Baral faces. In their old village, she said, the family caught their own

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