“On February 7, 2021, a section of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off, unleashing water held behind the ice, causing an avalanche and deluge in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district that swiftly transformed into flash floods.” (Source: Business Insider) The following news is a testament to the fact that in India, there isn’t a single day that passes without a natural disaster striking. Even during a pandemic, the country saw some terrifying disasters. Floods, droughts, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters have all struck the country. Huge portions of the population from all around the country have been impacted indiscriminately as a result of the country’s high sensitivity to disasters. People who live in disaster-prone areas experience the stress and anxiety of never knowing when or how they will be uprooted again.
The physical location of India, its seismic risk zone, and its intertropical convergence point all have a role. It is situated in such a way that it is vulnerable to natural calamities. (Image courtesy of Atlas Magazine) The country’s high population density exacerbates the problem, increasing the amount of casualties in regions where there are too many people with little or no access to a safe zone. “Human-induced activities such as increasing demographic pressure, deteriorating environmental conditions, deforestation, unscientific development, and so on are also responsible for accelerated impact and increased frequency of disasters in the country,” according to the National Institute of Disaster Management. However, the only thing that is natural is the occurrence itself, not the massive devastation it causes.
In its 2019 edition, the Global Climate Risk Index states that India “lost roughly 2,736 lives in 2017 due to disasters, second only to Puerto Rico, which lost 2,978 lives.” Furthermore, economic damages in India as a result of such disasters totaled $13,789 million, the fourth highest in the world.” These disasters have an impact not only on the inhabitants, but also on the country’s economy. Disasters are episodic, but their likelihood of recurrence is often high. This causes considerable misery to the people who live in those areas, and in the past, crop devastation has led to several farmer suicides. Because of changing climatic circumstances, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has cautioned India that this will only get worse in the future, especially with floods and heatwaves. Because natural disasters are unavoidable, the only thing India can do is apply strategic planning and implement top-notch preventive measures to ensure that its inhabitants and economy are not adversely affected.
Preventive measures alone will not fix problems, as the annual Chennai floods have demonstrated. Disaster preparedness must be factored into city development plans. Investment in disaster aid should also be increased; those who have been uprooted by these disasters have nowhere else to turn and must rely on the government. Because prevention is better than cure, governments must focus their efforts on catastrophe preparedness, rationing, and stockpiling essentials. The best way to limit damages and relieve people’ concern is for everyone to work together on preparation and prevention.
