SEEDS India

18/05/2026

What does survival mean when you are out in the sun?

SEEDer and now National Geographic explorer Siddharth Behl was recently on the ground for us in two diverse geographies - Fazilka in Punjab and the Sundarbans in West Bengal.

As temperatures began to soar, he captured the routine day-to-day life in these places. Women in the Sundarbans were out working on their stream banks, planting mangrove saplings and building bonds with one another as they build community against future disasters. Surrounded by large bodies of water, they cool off and find shade to relax. Today, the Sundarbans is at 36 degrees Celsius.

In Fazilka, which is slowly returning to normalcy after the 2025 floods, men stay out in the day working on rebuilding their homes. Today, Fazilka is at 44 degrees Celsius.



National Disaster Management Authority, India National Institute of Disaster Management Sanghamitra Misra Ranita Sarma.

13/05/2026

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, is cloudy today, with a high of 41 degrees Celsius. How does a resident feel? "It's cloudy, but the air outside is like a sharp, hot slap on our faces," says Inder Kumar Sahu.

Remembering coming to Bhopal from what is now a part of Chhattisgarh 42 years ago, he says he was able to work outside easily. He remembers more trees, which allowed him to go and work anywhere in the city for long periods. Nowadays, when the contractor takes him to work, he tries his best to find a place with some shade so he can protect himself.

Earlier, the tiles in their home kept the house dry, and they could sleep without fans. Today, he explains, many houses have come up near his home, and there is no circulation of fresh air. Today, neither the cooler nor the fan gives his family members any respite.

He also tires more quickly and falls ill more frequently.




National Disaster Management Authority, India National Institute of Disaster Management Sanghamitra Misra Ranita Sarma

12/05/2026

When Satya spoke, the world listened

SEEDS continues to build towards a single vision: “Resilience is the future.” These words from Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, echo what we live and build every day at SEEDS.

From early pilots in Puri to real-time risk advisories across Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Varanasi and Bihar, the AI for Resilient Cities initiative shows how technology and human insight can come together to empower communities, helping people act faster, safer, and smarter in the face of disasters.

Technology for action is shifting from reactive to proactive approaches, using , drones, imagery, and blockchain to predict crises, streamline logistics, and deliver aid more efficiently.

These technologies enhance speed and precision in disaster response - improving damage assessment, population tracking, and aid distribution - while improving accountability.

SEEDS believes that is built in homes, neighbourhoods, and shared hope. Watch this video to understand more about how this works 🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElSACf-IHcU

11/05/2026

The India Meteorological Department red alerts remain in effect, as maximum temperatures are 42 degrees Celsius or higher in most parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Marathwada, Vidarbha, West Madhya Pradesh, and at a few places in Central Maharashtra and East Madhya Pradesh.

India has been experiencing harsher summers. Across India, in the dense urban landscapes - concrete, asphalt, glass - are intensifying what we already feel as rising temperatures. Central India, which spans the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Vidarbha, has historically been an epicentre of intense summer heat.

Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh has a scorching summer. Experiencing heat for those who live in vulnerable settings - unplanned habitations - is further amplified as heat stress, turning everyday environments into -risk zones. Their discomfort is a chronic, high-intensity climate emergency that has been unfolding over the past few years.

The most dangerous are often the ones we do not see coming.



National Disaster Management Authority, India National Institute of Disaster Management Sanghamitra Misra Ranita Sarma

09/05/2026

More hands join in to protect the Sewri Wetland

SEEDS is pleased to share our recent employee engagement with Lubrizol India, in collaboration with SAHYOG FOUNDATION, as part of a collective effort to restore and protect the Wetland ecosystem in .

Lubrizol employees joined SEEDS for a clean-up drive along the wetland edge, removing plastic and solid waste, including multiple bags, from this ecologically sensitive coastal habitat.

The activity aimed not only to improve site conditions but also to build awareness of the importance of in supporting and protecting urban coastlines.

We thank Lubrizol, Sahyog Foundation, and all the volunteers for their participation and commitment towards creating cleaner, more ecosystems.

06/05/2026

Trying to survive in the increasing heat

Heat does not just make us uncomfortable; it makes survival harder. At his workspace in Safeda Basti, East Delhi, Manchanda Rai spends a considerable time in his roadside shop. Early in the morning, he opens the shop for those waiting for a cup of tea.

During the summer months, he also has a juice cart for those passing by to get a cool drink. For this, he steps out from under the roof of his shop and stands in the open, making and selling the drink as the demand increases.

When he does that, he is exposed to an additional layer of heat generated by vehicular pollution.

He had migrated to Delhi 32 years ago from Bihar with his wife and a newborn seeking a better future for his children. When the sun gets too much to bear, he takes comfort in the darkness of his shop. At that moment, Manchanda wipes his face with a cool cloth and reminisces about lying under trees. “In the village, it is not so hot,” he explains, “Here the increasing number of vehicles makes it very hot for us!”

As we call attention to heat as a growing challenge, for millions across India, especially outdoor workers and smallholder farmers, heat is not an inconvenience - it is a daily . It reduces working hours, impacts hashtag and hydration and affects incomes.



Sanghamitra Misra Ranita Sarma

05/05/2026

From one roof to a million stories

A journey of began in a small village in Puri, where Satyawati from the local fishing community lost her shop during Cyclone Nivaar in 2020. Her family rebuilt their lives after Cyclone Fani. Her story is one of courage and recovery, inspiring a question that changed everything:

What if every roof, every home, could tell us who was most at risk before a disaster struck?

That question became the seed of .

From using satellite imagery to understand vulnerabilities to sending hyper-local, AI-powered advisories, this model was built on the belief that technology and empathy together can save lives.

Over the years, what started in one coastal village has grown across the country, developing and flood models piloted in and , expanding to tackle heatwaves, and launching community campaigns in and .

The initiative was showcased globally at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, and even witnessed by Microsoft President Brad Smith in East Delhi. Today, it reaches over 44 lakh people, helping communities prepare, respond, and recover faster from climate extremes.

From Satyawati’s village in Puri to families in Delhi’s urban slums and Bihar’s floodplains, each story adds a layer to our collective resilience. AI for Resilient Cities is not just a model; it is a movement that connects data, decisions, and dignity.

Because every roof still tells a story of strength, survival, and the promise of safer cities for all.



SEEDS India Meghna Chawla Ranita Sarma

01/05/2026

Recharging the SEEDers!

After a long stretch since the COVID-19 pandemic, SEEDS finally came together as an organisation for its annual retreat. It was a moment that felt both earned and necessary. In the humanitarian sector, where teams work closely with communities facing loss, uncertainty, and recurring crises, pausing is not a luxury; it is essential to sustain empathy, clarity, and long-term impact.

The SEEDS teams provide support, working alongside communities facing loss, disruption, and recurring crises, with a focus often outward. To serve with dedication, the humanitarians also need spaces to pause, reflect, and renew, as sustaining empathy and effectiveness over the long term depends on it.

As SEEDS has grown over the past few years, this retreat carried added significance. Co-founders Dr. Manu Gupta and Dr. Anshu Sharma, along with the leadership team, designed spaces where every SEEDer could both reminisce and discover something new - about the organisation and about each other.

SEEDS continues to invest inward - strengthening the people behind the work. After years of pandemic disruptions, our annual retreat brought teams from across India together to reinforce shared purpose, collaboration, and the culture that drives our field impact.



Meghna Chawla Archna Khurana Sharma Ranita Sarma

27/04/2026

Extreme heatwaves will have the most impact on wildlife habitats

By 2085, over a third of land-based wildlife habitats could be affected by multiple types of climate-driven extreme weather events, such as and floods, if warming continues to rise in the second half of the century.

According to a new study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, led by researchers at P*K Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, the impact of climate change in a medium-high emissions scenario would affect nearly 34,000 vertebrate species.

The most widespread impact will be from extreme heatwaves, the study found. By 2050, 74% of land-based animal habitats will be exposed to heatwaves, 16% to wildfires, 8% to droughts, and 3% to floods if warming continues into the latter half of the century, the study said. Biodiversity hotspots such as the Amazon, tropical Africa and Southeast Asia will see a sharp increase in frequency of these extreme events, the study noted.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/extreme-events-could-impact-36-of-land-animal-habitats-by-2085-says-new-study-10654449/ #:~:text=The%20most%20widespread%20impact%20will,from%20today%2C%E2%80%9D%20Heinicke%20added

Published in Nature Ecology & Evolution journal, the study, however, highlighted that cutting emissions to net zero could still prevent these impacts

25/04/2026

What does it mean to rebuild after everything is lost?

The 2015 Nepal Earthquake devastated homes, livelihoods, and entire communities at an unprecedented scale.

At SEEDS, our vision was never just about the reconstruction. It was how to rebuild - and who would lead that process. Our work in Nepal contributed to advancing owner-driven reconstruction - an approach that placed families at the centre of rebuilding their homes and futures. Many of the homes destroyed were those of single-woman-led homes.

This meant working with communities, not around them.
Training local masons in safer construction practices.
Embedding resilience into every home built.
Strengthening skills that would last beyond the recovery phase.

Recovery is not complete when a house is rebuilt; it is complete when knowledge, confidence, and capacity remain within the community.

Years later, that lesson continues to shape how we respond to disasters:
Lasting resilience cannot be delivered - it must be built from within.
As climate risks intensify, keeping communities at the centre is not just good practice. It is the only way recovery can truly endure. You can read more about our work here https://www.seedsindia.org/portfolio/nepal-earthquake-recovery/



PwC India

24/04/2026

A long summer ahead

With the temperatures across India breaching the 40 degrees Celsius mark in April, a look back at why we work with the most vulnerable communities during this time.

From a study in East Delhi to anticipatory action against heatwaves in seven cities, every year we have learned from communities and facilitated building community resilience against what has now become a 'silent disaster'

https://www.seedsindia.org/portfolio/building-resilience-on-heatwaves-and-enabling-communities-to-face-disasters/

National Disaster Management Authority, India National Institute of Disaster Management Sanghamitra Misra Ranita Sarma

Founded in 1994, SEEDS had one ultimate goal: building the resilience of people exposed to disasters and climate change impacts. For the last 30 years, we have been enabling this through practical solutions for disaster readiness, response and rehabilitation. Our approach has involved grafting innov...