The devastating floods in Kerala or God’s own country was waiting to happen. Human complicity in this instance cannot be undermined. Sadly, it is a lesson that this country never seems to learn. Especially when it comes to disaster management.
The people are now having to pay a very heavy price with the political busybodies ignoring ecologist Madhav D Gadgil’s far reaching report on conserving Kerala’s Western Ghats. His 2011 study of the ‘fragile’ mountain ranges was ignored by the powers that be. Having headed a Centre deputed committee on environmental protection seven years back, he regretted that his worst fears have come true.
The Gadgil panel had recommended regulation on natural exploitation and concrete construction along the stretch of the ghats. They wanted it to be divided into three zones and conserved with separate levels of intensity. The response to the flood management has been poor as evidenced in Kerala. The administration’s capacity of dealing with the situation created by unusually heavy rains leading to rivers being in raging spate has been found wanting with more than 216 people dead and lakhs of those affected sent to relief camps.
The state was ill prepared to carry out the rescue operations. The situation was compounded by the faulty reservoir system among other causes. Experts emphasise this brings to the fore the collective unwillingness to anticipate potentially disastrous situations and tackling them effectively.
It is a matter of serious concern that instead of the states coming together in mitigating the crisis, it was the Supreme Court that reminded Tamil Nadu and Kerala the gravity of the flood situation imploring them not to fight among themselves. Considering the infighting and bickering at the administrative level rather than focussing on working in tandem with each other, there is little hope the suffering of the flood hit people being alleviated soon.
A case in point is that Kerala wants Tamil Nadu which operates the Mullaperiyar dam to draw water so that it does not brim over and worsen the floods, Tamil Nadu insists its water levels are safe. Amid all this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushed to Cochin within a few hours after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cremation Thursday last on August 16 in the national capital. He took stock of the overall flood situation in the state and announced a Rs 500 crore relief assistance which was in addition to the Rs 100 crores announced earlier by the Centre.
This was highly inadequate considering the havoc caused by the floods. The Centre has since categorised the floods as “severe” paving the way for sustained central assistance in various forms. Even as the three armed forces and the central teams were already involved in rescue operations, questions are being asked about the lack of infrastructure in terms of post disaster shelter arrangements and the need for rehabilitation being highly inadequate.
Those affected are talking of starting life anew from scratch. Their houses have been severely damaged requiring extensive repairs and just about everything including their cooking utensils including gas cylinders and stoves have all been washed away. The life of the affected has literally been turned upside down. These matters will have to be tackled expeditiously as this nation has witnessed a number of damaging floods over the last few years.
Interventions are required periodically rather than only when confronted by a calamitious situation. Inexplicably, there is an unwillingness to anticipate disaster situations and tackling them effectively. The damage due to floods in Kerala is estimated at more than Rs 20,000 crores. No less than seven lakh people have been shifted to 3500 relief camps. Eleven of the 14 districts in the state has been badly affected with at least five of them having taken the brunt of the disaster.
When the rebuilding efforts gets under way, mistakes of the past must be avoided. Lessons also need to be learnt from the 2014 floods in Srinagar and the one in Chennai a year later. Care has to be taken to steer clear of chaotic development adversely affecting wetlands, riverbeds and choking river flows. This assumes importance as Kerala is one continuous stretch of urban habitation. Primacy has to be accorded to protecting and preserving the environment. There is dire need for the Centre and the States to evolve a blue print in risk management requiring expeditious changes to be made at the highest policy level. Or is that too much to ask!
T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator.
