Questions beyond Wayanad, spilled across the country

The Kerala disaster leaves a pertinent question in its wake— Is climate change to be blamed for all natural disasters or is it human folly that has compounded such tragedies?

Recently, Kerala became the victim of a major landslide which occurred in its Wayanad district, claiming the lives of more than 300 people. This calamity is a grim reminder that India is among those nations who is most vulnerable to natural disasters such as droughts, floods, and landslides.

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s 2023 report ‘Landslide Atlas of India’, 147 districts in 17 states were identified and marked as ‘landslide prone’. This amounts to almost 20 per cent of India’s districts. All 14 districts in Kerala are included in this warning list, and except for Alappuzha which is ranked at 138, the other 13 are among the top 50.

However, the issue is much larger and goes beyond one state. If we look at the extent of vulnerability, this danger is spread across India. Like coastal Kerala, all districts of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand are on ISRO’s list. A small state like Mizoram has witnessed 12,385 landslides in the last 25 years — that’s at least one landslide a day for 25 years!

In May, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that India suffered a loss of more than Rs 470,000 crore in the last five years due to weather-related disasters. This is equivalent to 75 per cent of India’s defence budget, or more than 3 per cent of India’s monthly GST collection. 

However, just looking at vulnerability rankings and the number of annual disasters reduces any attempt to address the issue to a bureaucratic and superficial one. 

Governments often blame nature’s fury for the disasters and cover up their misgovernance by turning a blind eye towards the flouting of norms of sustainable development. Thus, one should move beyond statistics and try to fix the accountability of those who govern us by showing hard facts. All disasters cannot, and should not, be attributed to the ‘impacts of extreme weather events triggered by climate change or global warming’.

Although Wayanad experienced excessive rains in the 24 hours (a variation of 490 per cent) leading to the landslides, haphazard construction and poorly built settlements with rising populations led to the vanishing of more than 62 per cent of forest cover since 1950.

This loss of an organically-grown forest cannot be compensated by quick afforestation (as officials often try to convince us). Questions have also been raised over projects like the Kozhikode-Wayanad tunnel.

In the north, last year’s floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh were also termed as having ‘emanated from climate change’. However, rampant construction of houses and overtourism have exerted undue pressure on the civic infrastructure and fragile slopes in the state, especially in places like Shimla and Kullu. Environmental experts, geologists, and activists have been warning against the construction of big hydropower dams and the cutting of highways by using heavy machinery.

Neighbouring Uttarakhand is in a worse condition. Rudraprayag and Tehri are the first two districts in ISRO’s landslide vulnerability list, yet it seems the Centre and state governments have not learnt any lesson to tread on the path of sustainable development in this highly seismic zone. Despite the 2013 Kedarnath disaster, the 2021 Rishi Ganga floods, and the 2022 Joshimath land subsidence incident, the government is neither listening to experts nor concerned for the locals. 

On the contrary, it is actively working on the master plan for Badrinath, a shrine situated at a height of more than 3,100 metres. The Karnaprayag-Rishikesh rail line project has invoked the ire of villagers as their houses have developed cracks since the work began.

We should not forget Sonam Wangchuk in Ladakh who is fighting to save the fragile environment and the indigenous culture of the union territory with his long ‘climate fasts’ and peaceful protests. His appeal from 3,500 metres above sea level echoes in the beleaguered coasts of Kerala.

According to the Geological Survey of India (GSI) “80 per cent of the reported fatalities due to landslides occur within the developing countries” and “evaluating and mitigating the landslide hazard and risk is a major challenge for the technocrats and decision makers in the developing world.” Therefore, the professional integrity and intent of the policy-makers is critical, as the data sometimes may be insufficient and often does not provide us with the real magnitude of the problem.

It is high time India’s lawmakers demand the Centre and state governments put stringent guidelines in place for big infrastructure projects and courts intervene when violations are brought to their notice.

(Hridayesh Joshi is a senior journalist. X: @hridayeshjoshi.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.