Lessons from disasters

The rescue operations being carried out by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force in the flood ravaged state of Jammu & Kashmir are indeed highly commendable. These defence forces have evacuated over 1 lakh people so far, carrying out hundreds of sorties of helicopters and planes for rescue operations and for air dropping of supplies of essential items like water, food and blankets. Of course, the calamity that has struck this region is huge. Adding to that the terrain is a maze of hills, making the rescue operations very difficult and at times risky. There are many more people stranded in remote and less accessible areas. The human tragedy and death toll could be quite high.

It is true that such rains have not been witnessed in the J&K region in the last 60 years. It is an unprecedented catastrophe. But, we cannot and should not brush it away as a ‘natural’ calamity. The incidence of erratic rains sometimes resulting in heavy floods and in drought at other times has increased the world over. Climate change due to our actions – such as irresponsible industrialisation and urbanisation - is a reality; but, how this change in climate will manifest and as to where exactly it will show up is unpredictable. Today it has shown its ugly face in J&K; tomorrow it may become apparent elsewhere. There is a cost to thoughtless and reckless actions. The environment is getting more and more stressed due to our actions. There is a threshold limit to enduring any stress and once the yield point is reached, the effect could be disastrous.

In India, we do not seem to have learnt any lessons. We are struck by disaster after disaster – floods in Odisha, landslides in Uttarakhand, droughts in Maharashtra and Karnataka, to cite a few. The frequency of such tragedies appears to be increasing. India is a ‘young’ nation with youthful aspirations for economic betterment. There is absolutely nothing wrong about such aspirations.

But we cannot afford to demolish the environment around us and expect the economic and technological growth to provide us with the protective cover. But, government after another government in our country tends to repeat the same mistakes. Take the case of the ecologically highly important Sahyadri mountain range on our south-west coast. These Western Ghats are being plundered, day after day, for accommodating the humongous expansion of the cities like Mumbai and Pune.

World-renowned experts on the ecology of these mountain ranges, like Prof Madhav Gadgil, had always cautioned and advised us regarding the maintenance of these sensitive mountains and forest areas. But, the reality is that lakhs of acres of these forests are being destroyed so that the burgeoning cities could spill over into these nature’s treasures. Unprecedented denudation of ecologically sensitive areas can only cause unprecedented natural catastrophes.
Less haste advised
The nexus of land-sharks and unscrupulous politicians will only hasten the process of destruction. While the new government’s focus on economic development is praise-worthy, it should exercise caution so that in the process of ‘developing’ one does not avage the environment. During elections, the current ruling NDA coalition had promised that their government will rapidly process the environmental clearances to new industries and other new economic activities, unlike the then UPA government.

One hopes that the present government will not show undue haste in giving ‘clearances’; that the new economic initiatives will be cleared only after the long term ecological aspects have been considered to the fullest extent possible. Today it is Jammu and Kashmir that is suffering; tomorrow it could be some other area in some other unexpected calamity. But, going by the sound bites we receive from the political bosses, we do not feel reassured that this realisation has yet dawned on them. One must earnestly caution the current government that just as ‘policy paralysis’ is bad for the country, the ‘urgency to clear projects’ could be disastrous.

What further supports the suspicion that the governments do not learn is the fact that despite facing one disaster after another, we have progressed only at a snail’s pace with regard to disaster management. Granted, that the floods in J&K were ‘like never before’. But, we did not have a plan for evacuation when the disaster struck. We did not even know; even now we do not know as to where people could have been trapped and stranded. Many such locations are unknown. Those trapped in these remote, unknown to have been trapped, incommunicable places are only at the mercy of the Lord. Our military is doing a fantastic job of rescuing; but what can they do if they do not know where all people are trapped and isolated. Disaster management requires that the areas are mapped before-hand, just like the GPS system does a fantastic job of micro-location. Disaster management requires that prior plans for evacuation, transportation and communication are made, in case disasters were to strike.

Plans for prevention should definitely be made. For instance, the Dal Lake in Srinagar was getting encroached upon due to business interests. The water channels were also blocked due to business or other economic activities. With nowhere to go, the water levels rose to unprecedented levels within the city.

Seven years ago when Mumbai had flooding, the problem was exactly the same: the Mithi river that could take the flow of rainwater was clogged raising the water levels and inundating large areas of the metropolis. But we are poor at learning from one disaster and applying the knowledge at other place. We seem to have a collective amnesia to suffering. We are madly after the economic miracle. In our scramble to get rich quick we may go one step ahead and but fall back ten behind. Nature keeps reminding us, but we do not seem to heed.

(The writer is a former professor at IIM, Bangalore)