Thiya Belaku - May 2014

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=jûK 2 Editorial Last year on June 17, 2013 a cloudburst was reported in Kedarnath and Rampada region of Uttarakhand state. Over thousands were found dead and approximately 8,000 people were evacvated after several days. 150,000 Kilogram of food and relief material were flown in by the armed forces. 1,100 roads must be rebuilt from scratch, 96 bridges have collapsed and entire Villages were washed away in less than 40 hours. Yes, this disaster might have been waiting to happen. Like all natural phenomenon, disaster strikes without any prior warning. Through the years India and the world has witnessed natural calamities of large proportions causing massive destruction to life and property. Despite that we do not seem to heed the warnings – neither are we taking steps to prevent the disaster and nor are we equipped with disaster management tools to tackle these disasters ! Often nature strikes back when extraordinary harm is caused to its habitat, and when mankind fails to respect its domain. The disaster in Uttarakhand is yet another example which shows how rapid Urbanisation can lead to catastrophes. While geologists do believe that natural calamities such as cloud bursts and flash floods could not be prevented, but death and damage could be contained if there were laws to regulate construction along the rivers. It is also to be noted that in December 2012 the Ministry of Environment and forests had declared the entire watershed around the 135-km stretch between Gaumukh and Uttarakashi, along the Bhagirathi river, as an eco-sensitive zone. This, in practice, bans all construction activity in the area. Despite this, there were mining and construction going on leading to environmental degradation. Also studies indicated that the impact of the dams planned in the Himalayan region predicted that “about 1,700 square kilometres of forests would be submerged or damaged by dams and related activities”. Through the years our Country has faced many such natural disasters and nine out of ten times these disasters have been due to man made interventions. Closer home, the July 26, 2005 floods in Mumbai was a result of Unplanned construction on the banks of Mithi River, reclamation of Sea in the Kurla-Bandra- Worli region and widespread destruction of mangroves. Incidentally environmentalists have time and again warned us about the impending disasters, but we have a deaf ear to these concerns. Considering the magnitude of their impact, which is difficult to measure, these natural calamities are found to be beyond the control of human beings. However, it is possible to mitigate their effect to a certain degree provided the community plays its role during and after the disaster. Besides having State–of–art System in place to foresee such eventualities so that evacuation can be done to limit the loss to life, educating people in disaster management is also of paramount importance. In country like Japan, children at a young age are taught how to deal with earthquakes. And in India disaster management systems is relegated to a few chapters in our textbooks. Mumbai city has not progressed much in terms of disaster management after the 26/5 flooding. The city’s 70-year old Sewage drainage system is not designed to handle the heavy rainfall, and lack of a proper waste management system leads to clogging of drains and rivers even today. In 2007, the BMC launched a project to improve Mumbai Storm water drainage system, which includes widening the city drains and setting up eight water pumping station for low-lying neighbourhoods. But only two of the stations are currently operational and it could be another two to three this year. How many disasters do we need before we put an effective disaster management system in place? We need to accept the fact India with its unique Geo-climatic conditions and man-made interventions is a continuous witness to floods, drought, cyclones, earthquakes without destroying natural resources, we also need to find ways and means to minimize the loss and Limit the impact of such disastrous happenings with ‘real’ disaster management measure being implemented -Sridhar S. Suvarna Editor-in-Chief THIYA BELAKU ............................................... Editor : Sridhar S. Suvarna M. 808090 4895 Jt. Editor : Babu Belchada Krishnappa Billawa Advisory Board : Rohidas Bangera Ravi Manjeshwar Ail Babu Narayan Salian Appunchi K. Bangera Hema Sadanand Amin Finance : Ramesh Ullal Sunder Ail Advertising : Thimmappa Bangera Purandar Salian Distribution: Harish Kunder Mohan B. M. Mangalore Rep: Premchand Vaman Idya Rohini B.M. Rajendra Prasad Kateel Udupi Rep.: Umanath Kaup Kasargod Rep.: Vasudev Uppala Haridas Bolar, Kumbla Bhaskar Kasargod Publisher : Chandrashekar B. Co-ordinating Office : <strong>Thiya</strong> Samaj, 4 ‘Pallavi’, Pant Nagar North, Ghatkopar (E), Mumbai - 400 075. Tel.: 2501 6092 SB A/c. 005010100024819 The Bharat Co-op. Bank (Mumbai) Ltd., Mulund (East) Branch IFSC code : BCBM0000006 E-mail: thiyasridhar@rediffmail.com Word Press (pdf file) : <strong>Thiya</strong>jyoti.wordpress.com aBu|Cj DjrÖj
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Thiya Belaku - May 2014

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