The incessant downpour in north eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram has led to rivers overflowing their banks and flooding villages, forcing displaced people to seek temporary shelter in relief camps. It has also caused landslides in some places, and hampered communication with electricity, mobile phone and internet services down in several areas. However, despite this the Assam Team of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has persevered and is continuing our humanitarian work while following all safety precautions.

“33 out of Assam’s total 35 districts are affected. This includes 5,137 rain and flood affected villages. 74 deaths have been recorded so far, and 1,86,424 people have been displaced and are living in relief camps,” says CJP Assam state team in-charge Nanda Ghosh. “Many people feared losing their documents due to the floods, therefore we went and collected them and are keeping them safe till these people are able to return home from the relief camps,” said Ghosh.

The downpour has been going on for over a week, causing flooding in the riverine region and water-logging in many places. Reports have also come in of landslides in many parts of the state. Five people were feared dead when a boat capsized in the Brahmaputra rive in Dhibrugarh’s Rohmoria. According to Ghosh, some of the worst affected areas are located in the three districts of Barak Valley – Cachar, Halaikandi and Karimganj. “In the Brahmaputra Valley, districts such as Kokrajhar, Goalpara, Chirang, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and South Salmara-Mankachar are severely affected. Other badly affected affected districts include Baksha, Bajali, Darrang, Dhemaji, Hojai, Morogaon and Nagaon,” he said.

“Electricity was out for 11 days in some parts of Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhubri and South Salmara-Mankachar. In my own house, there was no electricity for four days. The electricity supply had to be shut down in wake of concerns surrounding electrocution,” says Ghosh. “The continuous rain threw daily life completely out of gear. Communication services are also badly affected. Roads, railways and agricultural fields were completely submerged in many areas,” he says adding that there was also several water-logging in Kamrup (Metro) district where the capital city of Guwahati is located.

A few images of flood-affected areas in Assam may be viewed here:

We spoke to Roshminara Begum, DVM Goalpara, who was out and about on the field, meeting and helping people. “I am currently in an area called Dolguma. For the last few days, the water-level was above the knee. But at the skies cleared for a bit today, I am on the ground,” she said. The mother of three has other worries as well, “Due to the floods, the schools have been shut and children in the area, including my own children have not been able to go to school.”

“It has been impossible to step out of the house for several days due to water-logging, all the roads are completely submerged. But I still managed to go meet some people who needed help in nearby villages after the water levels subsided a bit,” said District Volunteer Motivator (DVM) Abul Kalam Azad. “Villages that are closer to the river are worse affected, entire agricultural fields are totally submerged,” he said.

Dhubri district, which lies in a predominantly riverine area has been difficult to traverse. “I had to leave the CJP vehicle behind and take a boat for a part of the journey, then wade through knee-deep water for about a kilometer before I reached the house of a person who had asked for CJP’s help,” Dhubri DVM said Habibul Bepari. “Many families are now living in relief camps that have been set up by the government, where they are getting food and bottled water,” he said.

Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya have also been badly affected due to the heavy rains. Rail connectivity had already been impacted due to the flash-floods of May 16, and is yet to resume in many places. Plans to air-lift flood-affected people were also impacted due to the weather. The Meghalaya administration was forced to shut down portions of National Highway 6 after parts of it caved in.

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Empowering Assam: CJP goes above and beyond the call of duty

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Two of India’s most beautiful regions, where thousands of people go to watch and feel the wonders of nature, are suffering because of the extremely heavy rains and subsequent floods. Well, the pain that the rains brought to Kerala and now to Uttarakhand, is warning to all of us. It’s nature’s warning to us to mend our ways.

Nobody would have doubted the fury of rains and floods if it were the monsoon season. We all know, India suffers from both heavy rains as well as a shortfall of rains. The monsoon in India this year was more than its forecast, and eventually by the middle of September we assumed that the Monsoon was over, giving happiness to farmers and others.

Unfortunately, whether Monsoon left or not, rains remained there. I was travelling in the high ranges of Uttarakhand with friends and the weather really disappointed us. First, we could not complete our track to Dayara Bugyal which was about 3000 meters above the sea level offering a splendid view of the Himalayas. When we were just short of about 4 kilometers from meeting our summit, heavy rains compelled us to look for a shelter in the dense forest. After two hours when the ferocity of the rains stopped, we decided against climbing up and returned which was more difficult as it was a height at nearly 50-60 degrees slopes. Once we reached our hotel, it rained extremely heavily the entire night. The rains in the Himalayas really frighten you. The rains only stopped in the morning around 7 A.M and suddenly we saw a bright sun and snow-covered peaks. 

One day later, when we wanted to trek Gomukh from Gangotri which was about 18 kilometers away, we were happy that finally we could see some sunshine but after 9 kilometer’s stressful walking, it started raining and we could cover our first night journey with great difficulty. It was cloudy and raining, bringing down the temperature significantly. My friends from Mumbai found it extremely difficult to sustain and had breathing difficulties. Next morning when we got up, the situation was not clear and we had made our mind to abandon the trip as reaching back safely was more important even when we knew well that it was difficult terrain to walk in the rains as landslides were common there.

When I had planned my trip after, it was ideal to enjoy the bright sun shine as Uttarakhand looks stunning in the winter when the entire North India suffers with gloomy fog all around, the mountains in the Himalayas glitter in the bright sun making it a fascinating region to enjoy your winters. A couple of days prior to our journey, there was heavy rainfall and a landslide. I thought the worst was over and decided but now the heavy rains, floods and disaster has proved how unpredictable the weather has become today.

It was a rarity when we heard rains and floods together everywhere and not even in the mountains. We know Monsoon starts in mid of May in Kerala when the gates of the holy shrines in Uttarakhand are opened to the public, as that is the best period to visit the hills. People who suffer in the dirty, rotten heat of North India or even in the West or South, visit to Uttarakhand in a very large number. Most of the time July-August is the rainy season and by mid-September, Monsoon is officially over but this year it is shocking beyond doubt.

Kerala has lost over 42 persons to these unpredictable rains with towns like Kottayam, Thiruvalla, Idukki, Pathnamthittha facing the biggest jolt of swelling waters in the rivers. Houses collapsed like the cards and car swept away. The dams in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are overflowing at the moment and water level is rising high in various districts due to opening up of the gates of these dams. Once we thought the rains were over in Kerala, the met department forecasted heavy rains for Uttarakhand. I was not sure, but the next day, when we got the information, it just reminded us of the terrible tragedy of 2013 which was termed as Himalayan Tsunami killing thousands of people and damaging the huge infrastructure in the state. The world saw unprecedented destruction at that time where houses, roads, bridges, vehicles floated and swept away in the furious water of Ganges and numerous other tributaries, some known and various unknown or seasonal. So far, more than 58 lives have been lost, hundreds wounded. Many of the trekkers who had come to enjoy the beauty of the regions are still untraceable. A majority of the roads have caved in and in many places will take time to come back to normalcy.

Tsunami occurred in 2004 while Uttarakhand’s tragedy happened in 2013 but it looks that our governments learnt very little from that. The magnitude of the devastation did not affect any change in the policies pursued by the government as well as the bureaucracy. It is clear that Climate crisis is an issue which has been ignored. In the name of ‘development’ our mountains, rivers, seas are under the assault of greedy companies and political leaders as well as governments who have become their ‘agents’.

Kerala is a beautiful state but ‘development’ has reached there with growing urbanisation and ‘cemented infrastructure’ to meet the demand for the growing population. Urban population which was merely about 15% in 1971 was now crossing nearly 50%.  Moreover, the heavy migration for jobs to the Middle East result in ‘idea’ of ‘development’ by the individuals in the form of houses which are never according to local environment and needs but as per fancies seen elsewhere. Rampant mining to satisfy the need of the urban population particularly for sands and stones has aggravated the crisis. Deforestation to pave the way for ‘industrialisation’ and annexation of the sea beaches to attract ‘tourists’ and their demands are ultimately paving the way towards bigger disaster. There are about 58 big or small dams in Kerala and one is certain that many of them are in important ecologically sensitive zones. For the first time we heard that many of these dams were running beyond their capacity this time. The fact is that the reason for floods in many areas in India are these overflowing dams which suddenly open up their gates for the waters resulting in massive flooding everywhere. Indian experts will have to think it over now as to how long this will be allowed. Whether Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, we have seen such things happening every year damaging property, crops and human lives. It is time to focus on these things in the beginning so that human lives are not lost because of human error.

Look at what is happening in Uttarakhand. It is destruction. The greedy business lobby wanted to destroy the sea coast, backwater system, small rivers for mining, in Uttarakhand they wanted to reach the ‘top’ to ‘promote’ tourism and for that they have no shame in destroying our basic identity, the mountains. The Chardham yatra project added with bringing railway network to high hills are invitation to disaster. Nobody denies that we should have good road infrastructure but it is important how and whether the destruction that we are causing to nature is bigger or not. It pained me to see how the mountains were being drilled by the big machines and concrete was replacing the natural forests. We cannot have four lane roads in the Himalayan region unless we destroy the entire ecological system. If we destroy that, how much damage it could create to the entire northern and Eastern India will be unheard of.

Dams need to be damned. Unlike Kerala, hills of Uttarakhand have shown a negative growth rate in population. The winters bring chills and many villagers move to other regions during the winter. It’s a kind of nomadism when people migrate to other towns or villages from Middle of October till February- March end when the entire Himalayan region is covered with deep and dense snow. Forest cover is much higher which is controlled by the government. Many villages don’t even have public utility places as they have to seek permission from the forest, yet big resorts have come in. You can see big resorts in Jim Corbet National Park which is actually in the Tarai region (Himalayan plains) but elsewhere too in the higher ranges above 3,500 meters. It is this lobby of ‘environmentalists’ who make the local people look like enemies and project themselves as ‘champions’ of environmentalism. Frankly, it is this lobby, which has damaged the cause of the nature.

Laws must ensure local cultures, communities and ecological issues are protected and respected. The problem that has created this huge crisis is the absolute disregard and inability of the Indian states to respect people and their knowledge which is often regarded as ‘localised’ hence ‘experts’ are brought in and they legitimise the political propaganda of the power elite in their effort to create a ‘homogeneity’ among us. The fact of the matter is that all ‘developmental’ projects have ‘ideas’ and ‘experts’ emerging from private companies sitting in big metropolitan cities whose major work is ‘lobbying’ with the politicians, ministers and political parties to get through their work. Most of them have least concern for local sentiments or environmental protection, or what is essentially known as Free Prior Informed Consent which is an international practice whenever there is a developmental project planned in an area of greater environmental concern as well as indigenous communities. World over, the rights of people are respected and it is assumed that local communities are the best bet to protect the environment but back home the contractors in big cities with political connections and ‘experts’ funded by the Industrial houses have used judiciary for their purposes where ‘local communities’ are perceived as ‘threat’ to environment.

Hailing from the hills, I consider them my identity. I have often said whenever a friend wishes to visit that you find huge palaces, big buildings, historical spaces like those in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow, Mysore, Chennai etc. in the hills. If you are coming to hills, you will only find glacial rivers, fountains, mountains and other natural thing and they are not ‘resources’ for us but our basic identity. If there is no ‘pahad’ then there cannot be any Pahadi/Pahari which is our identity. If the mountains are destroyed, we will have to pay a heavy price and we will ultimately eliminate our identity.

Even when I am a humanist, I live with different rivers in the hills. Listen to their songs, if you have the capacity to understand the soulful humming and observe their ferocity at places, the power, the serenity and intensity unparalleled. They are a treat to watch. Enjoy the sublime, pure water and how it is playing but what have we done to them? We have tried to control them. How many dam(n)s are being built on various rivers in Uttarakhand which ultimately gave us Ganga, the most fertile and revered river of the country. A journey from Rishikesh or Dehradun to both the Gangotri, Yamunotri as well as Badrinath-Kedarnath would give you visibility to how mercilessly we have betrayed the mountains as well as our beautiful and revered rivers. This is nothing but a brutal assault on the greatest gift of nature to India. We live in a strange society at the moment where in the name of ‘respect’ we pollute our rivers and mountains but remain quiet on the issue of their destruction.

The nature’s wrath at Kerala and Uttarakhand have sent a categorical warning. You call both the states ‘Gods own country’ and ‘Devbhumi’. For me, both of them are the finest creation of nature to enjoy. The beauty of Arabian sea and stunning greenery of mountains in Munnar, the loving backwaters at Kumarkom and many more places are nature’s creation now being destroyed by greedy humans. Just travel to Uttarakhand and you will get fascinated with the beauty of Ganges and the more upward you move, the beautiful snowy rivers with the pristine water and humming attract you. The snow-covered peaks of Himalayas which literally protect India from its mighty neighbour is our best defence. There are lakes, meadows, fountains and what not but what happens is that human greed and comfort create infrastructure that hurts nature.

We all know that global warming is a reality. Climate change is a reality. So far, our governments, political parties and politicians have no time fighting with their pitching one person against others. Our divisive agenda has already hurt India and its ideas. The developmental model that is being pursued is purely to provide contracts to those who are close to those in power. Unfortunately, the power center of the ruling party has not been able to come out of its Gujarat obsession. It is trying to create a Gujarati monopoly everywhere which is dangerous and detrimental. Look at the contractors, airports, big ports, telephone companies, internet services and find out who the people are. What is the diversity in them? For these ‘versatile’ geniuses, profit is everything even if it has devastated humanity.

 We shout that from the Himalayas to Arabian Sea, India is one but here I want to say, from the Himalayas to the Arabian sea, we must not underestimate the warning signals from nature. Whether it is the mountains, rivers or sea, nature is sending an emphatic message for all of us to mend our ways or face the devastation. It is time, political parties, activists, and the government to give serious thought. Local municipal bodies, state governments, must act and develop local models in terms of structures and development. We can’t see a beautiful city like Nainital suffering in flood or the devastating videos that emerged from Kottayam.

We need to protect our heritage which emerges from nature. Respect nature, learn to live with it, respect local communities that protect nature and live a natural life and stand up against those who come to you with their ‘profitable’ ‘developmental’ mantra. Nobody should be allowed to exploit nature for private profit. There must be an eco-audit of our schemes and programmes so that we know what is happening on the ground and what are the threats to our nature and biodiversity.  It is time for all of us to stand up and be counted. We cannot allow our lonely planet to be destroyed by the ‘developmental mafia’. Wake up call for all. We hope both people of Kerala and Uttarakhand will stand up for protecting their natural identity and make environmental-ecological issues a prominent political agenda. Time has come to question the ‘developmental’ model to save our fascinating and enchanting natural heritage.

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Floods displacing millions partly due to reckless development, inefficient water management

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As Assam’s Covid-19 count continues to rise rapidly reaching the 600 mark, the first wave of floods has hit the state too, affecting roughly 30,000 people in five districts. State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has issued a statement in the matter saying that all those wishing to return to Assam, must do so by June 10 so that they can remain in quarantine for upto 14 days till June 30 and the authorities can get to work on tackling the floods starting July.

The flood situation continues to remain bleak, with the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) issuing a bulleting stating that 127 villages in eight revenue circles have been affected – in Lakhimpur (3), Goalpara (2), Dibrugarh (1), Dhemaji (1) and Darrang (1) districts. The ASDMA also said that 579 hectares of crop area has been flooded.

The Telegraph reported that altogether 30,701 people and 12,054 domestic animals and poultry have been affected by the first wave on floods. Roads have suffered extensive damage and the erosion of embankments from the affected districts has been reported. It was also reported that 8,941 displaced people are taking shelter in 33 relief camps.

In the Sonitpur district and Puthimari at NT Road in Kamrup district, the Jai Bharali River is said to be flowing above the danger level. Waterlogging has been reported from the low-lying areas of Lakhipur in the Goalpara district. A portion of the Agia-Lakhipur state highway 12 has also been washed away due to the flash floods.

Varnali Deka, Goalpara deputy commissioner said, “Around 22,000 people are affected in Balijana and Lakhipur revenue circles so far in the district and relief distribution started from Sunday. The affected people are kept in relief camps, maintaining social distance and also provided sanitizers and masks. All are asked to follow the Covid-19 guidelines and this time limited number of people are being houses in the camps.”

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) that reached the low-lying areas of Lakhipur which were affected due to the flow of water from the North Garo Hills of Meghalaya, evacuated 18 marooned villagers with the help of the 1st NDRF battalion that reached there. Two search and rescue teams of the 1st battalion of the NDRF teams have also been deployed in Bongaigon and Jorhat. In Barpeta and Cachar too, teams are conducting flood rescue operations. Besides this, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) which has been deployed at around 40 places in Assam, has helped rescue 438 people in Goalpara.

While @NDRFHQ grappling with #CycloneAmphan & #PostAmphanRestoration #TEAMNDRFINDIA also carried out flood rescue in Goalpara, Assam. #Committed2Serve @ndmaindia @PMOIndia @HMOIndia @PIBHomeAffairs @BhallaAjay26 @DDNewslive @ANI @airnewsalerts @PTI_News@DDNewsHindi pic.twitter.com/X8shJcQKWP

— ѕαtчα prαdhαnसत्य नारायण प्रधान ସତ୍ଯପ୍ରଧାନ-DG NDRF (@satyaprad1) May 25, 2020

Until now, over 60,000 people have arrived into the states via trains and buses. After the resumption of domestic flights in the country starting May 25, a total of 686 persons returned to Assam by eight flights.

About the rising Covid-19 cases, Sarma said that the state has the capacity to treat 5,000 patients. He has maintained that the infections are recent and that there has been no spike in the quarantine centres as all swabs were collected from people soon after they arrived from outstation, thereby insisting that the infections are imported and not home-grown.

? It is clarified that all swabs are collected from people soon after they arrive from outstation. Subsequently they are transferred to the quarantine centres. Therefore most of the positive cases in Assam are imported and not home-grown!

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) May 25, 2020

On Monday, the maximum number of cases (52) which were reported from Golaghat, were found to have been in people who had returned home in two batches of 18 and 34 over the past four days from Chennai and Mumbai and who were sent to institutional quarantine in Assam. In Dhemaji district, the first four cases were also reported from those who had returned from Chennai. The returnees are now in the Dhemaji civil hospital that has been declared to be a containment zone by the government. In lower Assam’s Salmara Mankachar district, three persons were found to be positive and were found to have returned from Uttar Pradesh on May 22, The Telegraph reported.

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These are some of the predictions made for India by experts interpreting the findings of the latest climate-change report, released on September 25, 2019, by the Intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), the United Nations (UN) body that assesses the science related to global warming.

Titled, “The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate”, the IPCC report evaluates climate change on the oceans, which blanket 71% of the earth’s surface, and the cryosphere–frozen areas, such as glaciers and ice sheets, which cover 10% of the planet.

For India, the major impact will come from the melting of ice in the Hindu Kush region of the Himalayas, which holds the largest reserves of water, in the form of ice and snow, outside the polar regions and is the source of 10 of the largest rivers in Asia. 

“These systems, therefore, are the economic engines of the region, especially due to the large freshwater reserve, biodiversity and natural resource support that it provides for the billions of people living downstream,” Anjal Prakash, coordinating lead author of the report and associate professor, Regional Water Studies, TERI School of Advanced Studies, told IndiaSpend. “What happens to Himalayan glaciers is directly connected to what happens to over 2 billion people living in Asia.”

Since the beginning of the industrial era (1850), the world’s temperature has risen by 1.1 deg C. If emissions continue at the current rate, then the earth is headed for a 3 deg C temperature rise.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterres has asked for a 45% cut in global carbon emissions by 2030. The remaining emissions must be soaked up by “carbon sinks” such as forests, oceans and soil, and reduced to what is called “net-zero” by 2050 to contain global temperature rise to 1.5 deg C.

The IPCC report said climate change is causing glaciers to melt at an “unprecedented” rate, leading to a rise in frequency of cyclones and changing global rainfall patterns.

Close to 670 million people worldwide live in coastal areas and 65 million in small-island nations. Another 670 million people live in high mountains. The impact of the changes in oceans and glaciers is likely to affect one in every five persons living on the planet.  

The IPCC report has been ratified by 195 countries which means that it represents global consensus, but experts said this makes it a conservative estimate. The actual impact of climate change could be worse.

Indian lives, livelihoods at risk
India’s 7,500-km long coastline is dotted with major cities, such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, all at risk of flooding. Those living along the coastline are already moving away, as sea level rises, as IndiaSpend reported from the Sundarbans in West Bengal and Honnavar in Karnataka.

Stray adaptation is evident, but that must become government policy, if livelihoods and lives are to be saved, experts said. 

“In Odisha many cyclone events are occurring but the states have geared to evacuate people,” said Prakash. “It is one of the good examples where the state has worked really well to adapting to the changing climate patterns. But imagine all cities and all the coastal states will have to keep doing this in the future and (imagine) how much it will cost the state exchequer to manage these events.”

The rising seas will move inland, make fields unfit for agriculture and drinking water sources along the coastline saline, something that is already happening, as IndiaSpend reported from Odisha in February 2019.

The annual south-east monsoons, on which more than half of India’s farms depend because they are unirrigated, are likely to become more erratic than they already are. That is because of changing global weather patterns, such as the periodic Pacific-warming phenomenon known as the El Nino, which is likely to double in frequency over the century.

“For India, which depends on the monsoon rains, a moderate El Niño in itself can result in a deficit and erratic monsoon,” another IPCC-report co-author Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), told IndiaSpend. “So, when an extreme El Niño hit the world in 2015-16, India reeled under back-to-back droughts. Ethiopia and South Africa had one of the worst droughts in 50 years and severe heatwaves, resulting in a 9-million-tonne cereal deficit, leaving more than 28 million in need of humanitarian aid.”

These extreme El Niños are likely to increase from one event every 20 years, as scientists  recorded over 99 years to 1990, to one every 10 years by the turn of the century, which means the monsoons may witness large-scale fluctuations.

The fate of the oceans is linked to the great ice sheets that cover the poles. 

As more ice melts, sea levels rise
Between 2006 and 2015, the Greenland ice sheet lost ice at an average rate of 278 gigatonne (Gt) every year, enough to cause sea levels to rise by 0.7 mm, said the IPCC report.

Over 52 years to 2019, the June snow cover on land in the Arctic declined by 13.4% per decade. Between 1979 and 2018, sea ice in the Arctic decreased by 12.8% per decade, a change not seen for at least 1,000 years.

This melting of ice is pushing up sea levels. Sea levels rose 15 cm, or roughly the size of a 500 ml coke bottle, over the 20thcentury alone. Currently, the seas are rising twice as fast–3.6 mm per year–and increasing.

By the turn of the century sea levels could rise up to 60 cm, or equivalent to four 500 ml bottles of coke atop each other, if global temperature rise is restricted to 2 deg C. It could be higher if global warming goes beyond that, the IPCC report said. 

Not only are the seas rising, they are warming, and that has a range of consequences.

Rise in sea temperatures

“The global ocean has warmed unabated since 1970 and has taken up more than 90% of the excess heat in the climate system,” the IPCC report said. While the global air temperature has risen by 1.1 deg C since the pre-industrial era (1850), ocean temperatures have risen by 0.8 deg C. 

Since 1993, the rate of ocean-warming has doubled. Marine heatwaves have doubled in frequency since 1982 and are increasing in intensity.
Marine heat waves can devastate sea life.

“Coral reefs occupy only 0.1% of the planet’s surface, but are home to 25% of all the animals found in the ocean,” said Koll of the IITM. “Corals have a specific range of temperatures that they can survive in, and the frequent occurrence of marine heat waves are killing them and the ecosystem around them.” This shift in temperatures is likely to affect fishing communities. 

“Reducing other pressures, such as pollution, will further help marine life deal with changes in their environment, while enabling a more resilient ocean,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of IPCC Working Group II.

The warming of the oceans also brings with it the possibility of more severe cyclonic storms.

“With a rapidly warming Indian Ocean, these severe cyclones are projected to increase in number, and we cannot neglect the possibility of these cyclones making landfall over the west coast of India,” said Koll.

Cooling and adaptation
The planet can address global warming by reducing global emissions to rein in rising temperatures and help local communities adapt better. 
“We will only be able to keep global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels if we effect unprecedented transitions in all aspects of society, including energy, land and ecosystems, urban and infrastructure as well as industry,” said Debra Roberts, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II. “The ambitious climate policies and emissions reductions required to deliver the Paris Agreement will also protect the ocean and cryosphere–and ultimately sustain all life on Earth.”

“If one country takes measures it won’t solve the problem,” said Prakash of the TERI School of Advanced Studies. “Countries have to collaborate and coordinate for climate action. They have to come together at a global level to flight the unprecedented climate crisis in the history of humanity.”

(Shetty is a reporting fellow with IndiaSpend and reporting from the United Nations on a Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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Floods are now an annual nightmare in many parts of southern and western India. Valleys in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala that weren’t considered flood-prone until recently are at risk.

Mountains above Munnar, a hill town in Kerala, India. Santhosh Varghese / shutterstock

During floods and landslides in August 2019, two villages were completely destroyed killing several people, while a year earlier Kerala saw its worst floods in a century.

These floods appear to be getting more severe. Climate change is causing stronger and more erratic rainfall with recurrent floods in low-lying areas while population growth is putting more people in risky areas. And another problem comes from deforestation in the mountain range where much of the water first fell: the Western Ghats.

More than 500 people died in severe flooding in Kerala in 2018. AJP / shutterstock

The Western Ghats run for 1,600km in parallel with India’s west coast, from Gujarat right down to Tamil Nadu at the tip of the subcontinent. It is – or was – a picturesque landscape of serene valleys, steep gorges and virgin forests. Yet recurring floods and landslides in the mountains, hills and areas downstream (between the Ghats and the sea) show that India must rethink its environmental law to balance the needs of nature and humans.

The Western Ghats follow India’s western coast. Nichalp / wiki, CC BY-SA

The mountains are teeming with life. Though they cover only a small part of India’s total land area, the Ghats are home to more than 30% of the country’s species of plants, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals, including both wild elephants and tigers. Its combination of unique species and habitat loss means Unesco has recognised it as one of eight global “hottest hotspots” of biodiversity.

Climate change is already having an obvious impact, with unprecedented rains in monsoon seasons and severe drought and dry rivers in summer. And as the human population has grown, people have chopped down the forests and replaced them with spice, tea, coffee and rubber plantations. Thousands of illegal stone quarries now also operate in the Ghats, where mountainsides are demolished to generate stones and sand for the construction industry. Deforestation and the use of highly destructive explosives mean these areas are prone to increased seismic tremors and landslides.

Large dams on major rivers offer renewable energy yet also raise another set of environmental problems. In Kerala, many are located in eco-sensitive parts of the Western Ghats, with some dating back to British rule. As demand for energy increases, India plans to build more dams which in turn could lead to massive deforestation and ecosystem destruction. All this makes flooding more severe, as deforestation in the catchment area of a river reduces the land’s ability to retain water.

Tea plantation on deforested land near Munnar, Kerala, in the Western Ghats. Mazur Travel / shutterstock

Whether triggered by damming, deforestation, or exacerbated by climate change, human-induced natural disasters in the region have pointed to a need for stronger environmental protection laws.

How to protect the Western Ghats

India’s 1950 constitution claims that protection of environment is a fundamental duty of every citizen, and though it does not explicitly contain a right to a clean environment, legal authority for environmental lawmaking is derived from the document.

Over the years, the country’s central government has enacted various laws that are applicable to the Western Ghats: the Environment Protection Act 1986, the Forest Conservation Act 1980, the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2002 and so on. However, these laws are not implemented efficiently, which makes me wonder if areas like the Himalayas and the Western Ghats – internationally significant ecosystems and biosphere reserves – need their own special laws.

The endangered Boulenger’s tree frog is found in the Western Ghats – and nowhere else. lensalot / shutterstock

Additionally, India’s water laws are inadequate. Existing legislation primarily focuses on pollution control, meaning the law has little to say about preventing or even managing floods which result from mismanagement of dams or too much riverside development.

The problem is enhanced in case of rivers that flow across state boundaries. Some of the major floods in the past couple years happened after dams at or near full capacity in one district or state were opened, letting water flow downstream into another area. Recently, a draft dam safety bill has been proposed to address these problems.

Similarly, discussions over climate change and environmental lawmaking should involve more grassroot level participation. For most people, poverty and earnings still matter more than climate mitigation or adaptation. Hence people’s perception should be moulded to recognise and realise how deforestation or climate change impacts their daily life.

The Western Ghats are south India’s lifeline, with millions dependent on the range either directly or indirectly. These mountains need protection. However, while new development in the region continues to be human-centric, the entire concept of nature preservation is relegated. To protect the Western Ghats, what we require is an attitude that recognises the significance of these mountains, and that will involve specific laws.

Courtesy: The Conversation

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In mid-August, floods hit the southern and western states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Several hundred people died. Floodwaters damaged property and roads, and destroyed thousands of hectares of summer crops.

Kerala was particularly badly affected. Reeling under a rainfall deficit of 27% till August 7, the next day the state received 368% more rainfall than average, triggering widespread floods and displacing close to two million people. By August 13, incessant downpours sliced the seasonal deficit to 3%, a massive 24 percentage points difference. The state was still recovering from last year’s floods, the worst in a century.

In Maharashtra, two weeks of heavy rainfall flooded many western districts of the state such as Pune, Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli, killing 50 and displacing half a million. And all this while the monsoon rain shadow areas of Marathwada and Vidarbha remained drought hit.

Karnataka swung between a monsoon deficit of 13% to an excess of 10% on a week’s heavy rainfall. On August 8, some districts received up to 32 times their normal rainfall. Floodwaters rushed into 12 districts, mostly in the northern and central parts. Monuments in the World Heritage Site Hampi were submerged by the swollen Tungabhadra river.

If this wasn’t enough, there were cloudbursts in the Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Extreme rainfall on August 18 wreaked havoc in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, washing away dozens of houses in several villages. Heavy rains over the weekend in Himachal Pradesh poured enormous quantities of water in many parts of the state, causing floods and landslides. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday that Himachal Pradesh received the highest-ever rainfall for 24 hours since records began some 70 years back.

The rain in the uplands saw floods spilling over the plains of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where massive relief work is in progress. The headwaters of the Ganga in Uttarakhand are in spate, with the river crossing the danger mark in Haridwar. The water of the Yamuna has risen alarmingly, triggering a flood warning in the national capital.

A disaster foretold

This kind of sudden and heavy rainfall is not unexpected. Scientists have long warned that extreme weather events brought on by manmade climate change is inevitable, and such weather extremes have arrived in India. The trend of extraordinary precipitation over shorter periods of time has been well documented.

“Although prediction of such extreme weather events is still fraught with uncertainties, a proper assessment of likely future trends would help in setting up infrastructure for disaster preparedness,” said a 2006 study led by B.N. Goswami of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. The study of rainfall data of the southwest monsoon, the study found that there is an increase in the number of extreme monsoon weather events over India over the past half century, although the seasonal mean monsoon rainfall remains stable for the same period.

“There is a 10% increase per decade in the level of heavy rainfall activity since the early 1950s, whereas the number of very heavy events has more than doubled, indicating a large increase in disaster potential,” the study found. “These findings are in tune with model projections and some observations that indicate an increase in heavy rain events and a decrease in weak events under global warming scenarios.”

In 2011, P. Guhathakurta, O.P. Sreejith and P.A. Menon of the India Meteorological Department investigated the occurrence of exceptionally heavy rainfall events and associated flash floods in many areas in recent years. They found that extreme rainfall and flood risk are increasing significantly in the country. The frequency of very heavy rainfall events and risk of floods is likely to increase over India, said a 2008 study led by M. Rajeevan of the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory.

Although for some two decades the scientific evidence has been pointing to more such calamities occurring more frequently, such scenarios were mostly ignored by policymakers. As a result, this year’s cloudbursts have caught the authorities unprepared.

Worsening the disaster

At a time when extreme rainfall is more likely, experts are saying that the resulting floods, loss of property and human displacement and suffering are made worse by wrong-headed development and poor water management.

For instance, the extensive floods in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara in the upper Krishna river basin in Maharashtra could have been somewhat mitigated had the dam operators in the region acted wisely, alleged the South Asia Network of Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), a research and advocacy group. Poor management of dams has worsened the floods instead of mitigating them, it said in a report.

“In the same period when these districts were getting high rainfall, the dams in these districts started releasing large quantities of water, which played a major role in creating the flood disaster,” the SANDRP report said. “The dam operators are likely to turn around and say that but the dams were full and we had no option but to release water. The question is: why were the dams full when monsoon is just about halfway through and IMD has predicted much higher rainfall in the remaining part of the monsoon compared to the first half?” the report questioned.

The opening of sluice gates of reservoirs, such as the Bhakra Dam on the Sutlej River in Himachal Pradesh and the Kota Barrage in the Chambal River valley, caused much of the floods in northern India. If India has to mitigate the impacts of extreme rainfall, it has to devise ways to manage its dams.

The first step towards a course correction is to recognise the problem. But the government seems to be in denial. “The climate in various parts of the world is changing, but it would be wrong and unscientific to attribute the current flood situation to climate change,” India’s Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said at a media briefing in Pune.

It’s true that climate scientists are wary of attributing a particular extreme weather event to climate change. However, it is also undeniable that scientific evidence points clearly to an increase in such occurrences due to global warming.

Reckless development

Besides faulty water management, the frenzy of ill thought out development has also worsened the impacts of the intense rainfall. In the western Himalayas, for instance, there has been a massive thrust in building infrastructure that has put enormous pressure on the region’s natural environment. Environmentalists and experts have cautioned against the massive road and tunnel-building projects in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

In 2013, heavy rainfall and unprecedented floods had devastated Uttarakhand. At that time, the federal home ministry had blamed deforestation, building of roads that cut through mountains, construction of hydropower projects, and tourism-related construction on floodplains and mountain slopes for worsening the scale of the disaster.

But the lessons of 2013 have remained unheeded. In fact, the government has embarked on the contentious Char Dham highway project to connect four Hindu shrines in the state, though local residents and environmentalists say that it endangers the fragile mountain ecosystem.

In the south, the floods and landslides in Kerala have again focused attention on the 2011 report by the Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel led by Madhav Gadgil. The Gadgil report had warned that cultivation of commercial crops on steep slopes was leading to rapid erosion and increased run-off.

It had also said there was a need to control the massive encroachment and deforestation in the catchment of major rivers such as the Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery. It also spoke against building large dams in the ecologically sensitive area.

The warning and recommendations of the Gadgil report were actively opposed and ignored. The terrible results of that became evident when there was unprecedented rainfall in Kerala last year. Scientists said the impacts of the Kerala deluge was made worse by massive deforestation over the years, unrestrained construction, and most of all, stone quarrying that destabilised hill slopes.

This intense rain in the southern state again this year could just be one in a string of such events occurring in the future elsewhere in the country as well. Unless there is a change in the way development is carried out in India, the damage from extreme weather events will only be magnified.

Courtesy: Counter View

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Monsoon fury has gripped central and southern Indian States. The floods have crippled life in vast areas, affecting millions. The death toll from floods in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu rose to at least 150 on Sunday, as rescue teams raced to evacuate people and waters submerged parts of a world heritage site.

Exactly a year ago, devastating floods left 400 dead in the southern state of Kerala.

Media reports from India said:

The monsoon rains triggered floods have claimed 72 lives in Kerala so far.

According to government data, 58 people are missing and more than 250,000 people have been shifted to 1,639 relief camps.

At least 2,966 houses have been damaged completely in Kerala.

Hundreds of people are still stranded at Attapadi in Palakkad District.

On Sunday, Vadakara in Kozhikode district recorded 21 cm of rainfall, the highest in the state as of 8.30 AM Sunday, followed by Kodungallur in Thrissur (19.9) and Perinthalmanna in Malappuram (13.8),

The state government has said that water level in major dams was not a cause of worry as of now. Idukki Dam, one of the biggest in the state, now had only 36.61% capacity.

Incessant rainfall causes landslide at Kavalappara

Incessant rainfall in Malappuram caused landslide at Kavalappara. National Disaster Response Force, Fire and Rescue Department and Forest Department officials engaged in search and rescue operation in the area.

In one of the major flood-related calamities to hit Kerala this year, as many as 30 families are feared trapped underneath a landslide in Kavalappara at Bhoothanam, Malappuram and 10 people have reportedly died.

According to locals, as many as 50 people are missing, who have not been located either in the relatives’ houses or in relief camps.

Incessant rainfall in Malappuram causes landslide at Kavalappara

“Puthumala village is no more”

Nearly 100 acres of tea estate land, along with a temple, mosque, post office and the plantation company’s canteen, were washed away on Thursday evening in Puthumala, 11 km from the scenic hill town of Meppadi in Wayanad. “Puthumala village is no more,” said a villager, who survived the landslide. While six bodies were recovered from the debris on Friday, villagers fear another 15-20 people may be buried underneath.

Bengaluru-Mangaluru National Highway remains closed

In the wake of series of landslides, the national highway connecting Bengaluru and Mangaluru remains closed at least until Monday.
Officials said that there was slight reduction in the water level in the Netravati river in Dakshina Kannada district.

The water level near Bantwal has also reduced from 11 meters above the danger level to 9.1 meters above the danger level.

Flight operations resume at Kochi international airport

Flight operations from the international airport at Kochi resumed on Sunday afternoon, two days after it was shut due to inundation of the runway area following heavy rains. The Abu Dhabi-Kochi Indigo flight touched down at around 12.15 pm, marking resumption of the operations.
Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan has expressed anguish at the manner in which some sections are spreading rumors about contributions to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. He said that the fund would be used only for the needs of the affected and not for anything else. He said that it was unfortunate that some negative campaigns are currently on.

Vijayan said that the state government has not yet asked for funds from the Centre. He added that the Centre was providing all support for the ongoing relief and rescue work.

Vijayan on Sunday held multiple review meetings with senior officials and later told reporters that though the rains had subsided in the state, people should remain vigilant.

More rains in Kerala, predicts Met department
In a big relief to those engaged in rescue efforts, the rains on Sunday appear to have come down. However, the Met department has predicted more rains are predicted in the coming days across Kerala. The government has asked everyone to remain alert and be receptive to warnings.

Karnataka floods: 26 dead so far
The Indian state of Karnataka saw no let-up in rains, with 26 people losing their lives so far in rain related incidents.

As many as 235,000 people have been moved to safety.

Most rivers are in spate and Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has termed the natural calamity the biggest in 45 years.

Rescue and relief works are on in full swing in flood-ravaged districts of Karnataka, with a let up in the rains and water receding in most of the affected areas.

A PTI report said that situation was improving and search is on for those who have gone missing and efforts are being made to reach out to those who need to be evacuated. Eighty taluks, a local government tier, of 17 districts in Karnataka have been affected due to floods and rains. The number of affected villages in the state is 2028.

In Karnataka, nearly 600,000 people have been evacuated. At present, 1,168 relief camps operational across the state. More than 300,000 people are living in the relief camps.

Maharashtra floods: Sangli boat capsize toll rises to 17
With the recovery of five more bodies, the death toll in the boat capsize tragedy in Sangli in the Indian state of Maharashtra district has gone up to 17.

Over 30 people have been killed in rain-related incidents in five districts of western Maharashtra in the last one week, including 17 who drowned when a boat capsized near Brahmanal village in Sangli on Thursday.

More than 400,000 people have so far been evacuated from flood-affected parts of Maharashtra.

The Met department has predicted heavy rains on Monday at isolated places in Pune, Kolhapur and Satara districts of Maharashtra, which are affected by severe floods.

According to IMD, intensity of showers will reduce further on Tuesday, which will help in carrying out rescue operations. Similar forecast is also issued for coastal Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, which have been receiving excess showers for the last seven days.
 
Tamil Nadu to seek relief from Centre
The Tamil Nadu government will seek flood relief fund from the Centre after total assessment of the loss due to the rains in Nilgiris district, state Animal Husbandry Minister Udumalai K Radhakrishnan said Sunday.

Amit Shah surveyed flood-hit area
Union Home Minister Amit Shah conducted an aerial survey of flood-hit areas of Belagavi district in Karnataka. The state’s Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa was also present.

Heart breaking, says Rahul Gandhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday termed as heart breaking, the suffering of people due to floods and landslides in his constituency Wayanad and urged the state and Central governments to provide immediate aid to those hit by the natural calamity in Kerala.

“It is heart-breaking to see what all the people of Wayanad have lost. We will do everything in our power to help them get back on their feet,” he tweeted.

Rahul promised to do everything possible to get them back on their feet.

Andhra Pradesh: 2 major reservoirs almost full
The two major reservoirs on river Krishna, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh have almost been filled to capacity after virtually being dry for several months in Andhra Pradesh. Rains are still continuing in the upper riparian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, bountiful water is flowing in the river, filling up all major reservoirs along its course. Heavy discharges from rivers Tungabhadra and Bhima are also adding to the flood surge in Krishna.

Courtesy: Counter Current

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More than 170 people died in floods in the states of Bihar and Assam, which affected more than 10 million people, India Today reported on July 24, 2019.

The Kaziranga National Park in Assam’s Golaghat district has reported the death of 204 animals including 15 rhinoceroses since July 13, 2019.

The states of Assam and Bihar are prone to floods every year due to heavy rains and the overflowing of rivers.

Satellite images released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US space agency, shows how “the Brahmaputra river rose out of its banks in many locations across India and Bangladesh”, flooding huge swaths of farmland.

Source: Lok Sabha

The 2018 deluge in the southern state of Kerala–one of the worst in 94 years–claimed 477 lives or 23% of all (2,045) deaths in rain-related natural calamities reported in 2018-19.

Bihar reported the most–970 or 15% deaths–followed by Kerala (756), West Bengal (663), Maharashtra (522) and Himachal Pradesh (458) over three years. These five states account for 51% of all deaths.

More than 200,000 livestock deaths have been reported and over 3.9 million houses/huts damaged due to rain-related natural calamities over these three years, government data show.

Rain-related calamities killed 496 people between April 1, 2019, and July, 18, 2019, or about five deaths per day, on average, with Maharashtra reporting the most (137), followed by Bihar (78).

Heavy rains, floods have killed more than 100,000 over 64 years

As many as 107,487 people died due to heavy rains and floods across India over 64 years between 1953 and 2017, according to Central Water Commission data presented to the Rajya Sabha (Parliament’s upper house) on March 19, 2018, IndiaSpend reported on July 17, 2018.

“The main reasons of floods have been assessed as high intensity rainfall in short duration, poor or inadequate drainage capacity, unplanned reservoir regulation and failure of flood control structures,” according to the reply.

More than 40 million hectares (12%) of India’s land is prone to floods, official data show. India witnessed 431 major natural disasters over three decades between 1980 and 2010, leading to loss of human lives, property and resources.

“About 48% of the flood prone area has been provided with reasonable protection against flood of a low to moderate magnitude due to technological and economic constraints. It is not possible to provide protection against all magnitude of flood,” the Central Water Commission states. 

India could see a six-fold increase in the number of people exposed to the risk of severe floods by 2040–to 25 million people, up from 3.7 million facing this risk between 1971 and 2004, IndiaSpend reported in February 2018, based on a study published in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed journal.

Not just India, most of South Asia prone to floods

About seven million people in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan (as much as the population of Hong Kong) have been displaced or had their lives disrupted by flooding in mid-July 2019, NASA reported on July 18, 2019.

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

The two images above, captured on June 28 (before) and July 14, 2019 (after), depict India’s eastern region showing water (navy and dark blue) out of river banks and on the floodplains. Clouds can be seen in white or cyan and vegetation-covered land in green.

Like NASA, The International Charter Space and Major Disasters depicts the before and after images of flood-affected areas in the state of Assam.

The Charter is a group of space agencies and space system operators–including the Indian Space Research Organisation–across the world that provide satellite images for disaster monitoring.

“Global climate change is likely to increase frequency and severity of flooding in South Asia  threatening agricultural production and increase uncertainty for small-scale farmers whose livelihoods serve the rural economy in these regions necessitating an integrated approach to overall risk reduction,” a December 2018 article titled Flood risk assessment in South Asia to prioritize flood index insurance applications in Bihar, India said.

Cities in South Asia such as “Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata and Mumbai—urban areas that are home to more than 50 million people—face a substantial risk of flood-related damage over the next century”, a 2018 World Bank report titled South Asia’s Hotspots—The Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards, stated.

Mumbai experienced heavy rainfall in the first week of July 2019, with some parts receiving the second-highest rainfall in July in 45 years that brought the financial capital to a halt, claiming nearly 16 lives, IndiaSpend reported on July 2, 2019.

While linking a particular event to climate change requires extensive analysis, it is clear that the increasing rate of intense rainfall events over Mumbai and the Western Ghats is due to rising temperatures, Roxy Mathew Koll, climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, had told IndiaSpend.

Heavy rainfall events (more than 100 mm) in urban India have increased over the past 100 years; there has been an overall increasing trend of events exceeding 100, 150 and 200 mm since the 1900s, and an increasing variability in recent decades, IndiaSpend reported on August 29, 2017.

(Mallapur is a senior analyst with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has declared a red color warning for action for Assam on Tuesday, as widespread and heavy rainfall is likely to continue over Assam during next 24 hours and decrease thereafter.

However, the forecast indicated that the rainfall activity over Bihar has decreased and is likely to decrease further during next two-three days.
As many as 24 people have lost lives in Bihar with over 12 districts facing a severe deluge. Large scale damage has been reported from Sheohar, East Champaran, Purnea, Darbhang and Kishanganj.

According to a Water Resources Department bulletin, five rivers -Baghmati, Kamla Balan, Lalbakeya, Adhwara and Mahananda are flowing above their respective danger levels at various places in the state due to incessant rainfall occurring in the catchment areas of the rivers in India as well as in their source regions in Nepal.

Most of the Rivers in Brahmaputra and Baraka Basin are flowing in severe flood situation in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal. Tributaries of Brahmaputra have started falling and the main river Brahmaputra is still rising from Guwahati to Dhubri, as per the latest report by Central Water Commission (CWC).

Over 26 teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force along with 796 personnel have been deployed across Bihar for carrying out relief and rescue operations in the affected districts.

In Assam, flood waters have submerged 30 of the 33 districts of Assam, with over four million people affected as flood water submerged 30 of the 33 districts of the state. The road connectivity to various districts has also snapped due to flood waters.

The situation is likely to continue for another two-three days and then slowly recede as the rainfall activity reduces, stated CWC.

Courtesy: Counter Current
 

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Deluge at Midnight
When water receded from the flood hit Kochi suburbs in Kerala someone clicked that image from the sky. Through the thick foliage around the house and dense water on the ground those six big white letters stood out on the terrace of a house. THANKS . Flood hit Keralites are expressing their gratitude to all the heroes who rescued their life from the unimaginably horrendous and devastating deluge.
The word of thanks on terrace was a seeming tribute to all rescue members especially the Pilot Commander Vijay Varma who had saved two women from the top of that house on August 17. One of the women, Mrs. Sajida was pregnant when she was airlifted from the roof top. A few hours later she gave birth to a baby boy in the naval hospital.

Whole of Kerala was soaked by the heavily pouring torrential rains and the gushing water released from its 80 dams spread in 44 rivers. The catastrophe was unfolding overnight when hundreds of landslides occurred washing out lives, livestock, houses and agricultural fields. Thousands of people were trapped in flooded houses without being able to be approached, not to think of being rescued!

Power of Solidarity and Fraternity
What kept the hopes alive in the sinking State was the flood of solidarity and support. Water was rising beyond the expectations of the residents and all escape routes were slowly being inundated. But the neighbouring communities immediately rushed to the flooded areas to save their fellow people from drowning.

People less affected by the waters started preparing food for neighbours and strangers. Evacuation of the trapped people was the first priority. People whose houses were on higher levels harboured their affected neighbours. But the rivers were flowing furiously expanding to many kilometres on either side of its usual banks.

Then, churches, schools, temples and mosques were opened for victims. Flow of ready-to-eat food, clothes and other basic materials surprised everyone. Hindus, Muslims and Christians in the relief camps ate together, prayed together and slept under one roof! People of various political affinities shared same building forgetting their ideologies. Neither floods nor fear could submerge them anyway.

History will never forget the fishermen of Kerala who rushed to the sunken lands carrying their 30 feet long fishing boats on trucks. They minimised the toll significantly. Army and navy with their technology and expertise saved thousands of people from the trapped houses. IAS officers did not hesitate to wade through the water carrying bags of rice and clothes as much as they were making quick decisions with utmost efficiency. Police Force and Fire Force of Kerala did a praiseworthy service.

In Idukki, a pet dog woke up the family just before a huge landslide eroded their house and property. What an amazing connection! Hundreds of dogs and animals were saved by the animal rescue force. In Alappuzha, where water is on high levels even now, many people hesitated to evacuate just because they did not want to abandon their beloved livestock.

A family had helplessly decided to leave their goats behind before they evacuated themselves from Kuttanad. Mr. Saji, his poor neighbour, gave 500 rupees to the family and took the goat to his flock. Rain was pouring and water was rising incessantly that night. He could no more stay back. He transferred all six goats to his hired canoe and escaped to the land.

Various States of India including Delhi immediately responded to the crisis situation of Kerala. From Punjab to Karnataka, many states generously supported with materials and manpower. In Delhi, Justice Kurian Joseph of the Supreme Court personally visited the material collection centre at late night and spent a few hours with volunteers sorting and despatching supplies to Kerala.

Harmony Reduced the Havoc
A Christian shrine in Neelimangalam near Kottayam was drowning in water. Most people had vacated the place. Mr. Sanal Kumar, a Hindu neighbour of the shrine, noticed the water touching the icon of St Mary. He took the holy picture safely and placed it in his puja room along with his other Hindu gods and goddesses. Later Christian priests visited Sanal Kumar to thank him for the great gesture of reverence.

In Parapukara near Iringalakkuda, and Chithirapuram near Thodupuzha Christian cemeteries became final resting places for a Hindu women and man respectively who died during the floods. In northern Malappuram a mosque became shelter to 17 displaced Hindu families, including women, children and the elderly. Temple hall in Eravathur near Mala was opened for Muslims to conduct Eid prayers on Wednesday. Hundreds of churches, temples and mosques are harbouring many thousands of desolate people from various religious affinities and denominations. Now similar inspiring stories of social harmony and support from camps as well as well-wishers inundate the gloomy atmosphere of Kerala.

If You Have Two, Give One Away
No sooner had the Camillian Task Force (CTF) heard about the havoc in Wayanad, the hilly district disconnected by several landslides, its members rushed to the flood hit areas. CTF is a body of the Catholic  Order of the Ministers of the Sick, which helps the victims of natural or man-made disasters, providing competent humanitarian, spiritual and pastoral help. The team consisted of 14 priests, 4 doctors, 18 nuns and other volunteers. Some of these priests and nuns are doctors or nurses who have expertise in relief work. Striding through the hazards and heavy rains they acted quickly to reduce the ruin.

The tremendous work of Capuchins in Idukki district had been instrumental to keep the people stay calm amidst the disastrous erosion of land in many places of the district. Roads are thoroughly damaged preventing to access the neighbouring towns even though people wanted to reach out. Fr Jijo Kurian was networking with other leaders and officials for logistics of relief materials for the totally isolated district. The Capuchins have opened the doors of all their houses and their kitchens are preparing thousands of food packets ever since the waters hit Kerala.

In the evening of August 16 Fr Justin Jude, the parish priest of Sindhu Yathra Matha parish, got a call from the Police department in Vizhinjam requesting for 10 fishing boats to be sent to the flooded areas for rescue. The police was confident about the efficiency of the priest who had done an amazing work during the Okhi disaster that ravaged the Kerala coast. Father immediately sent the message to the fishermen parishioners through their parish social media. When he reached the harbour in 20 minutes he was surprised to see almost 50 boats and hundreds of fishermen getting ready to go for rescue work.

Not everyone in Kerala is in a mood to celebrate its annual harvest festival Onam falling on 25th of this month. Yet, people might celebrate it lightly which would boost economy but reduce the collective trauma. Many Muslims are still in relief camps on this Eid without being able to celebrate it. Catholic nuns who have opened their convent to be a relief camp in Kodungallur, joined other Muslim women in the camp who drew floral patterns with Mailanchi on nun’s hands. This was a spectacular gesture of inclusion and welcome at the time of disasters.

Keralites bow their heads with gratitude as the whole world extends their generous support to overcome the damages. The generous support of United Arab Emirates (Rs. 700 cr.) and other countries and organisations are graciously remembered. Someone wrote on his Facebook wall in Arabic: Sukran Habibi, meaning “Thanks Oh Loved Ones.”

This article was first published on indiancurrents.org.

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