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Sharing an old piece of extract which I wrote as my Block Field Work Report of Uttrakhand during its 2013 Flash Floods
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“Natural
disasters strike without notice. With changing climate, fear of extreme rain
and variable weather events will now intensify—all these will make our world
even more vulnerable and more hazardous”.
Every year, Uttarakhand receives pilgrims in
thousands for Char Dham yatra—Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. It
also receives heavy rains and suffers floods. But the loss (both physical and
life) the region has suffered this time is horrifying and terrible.
It is believed that a massive landslide
occurred upstream in the north-east region of the Kedarnath valley. Heavy
rainfall occurred at the same time formed a small lake in the north-west of the
valley. The debris from the landslide and water from the lake travelled down
the slope, channelled into the glacier, and came down to Kedarnath town.
Every time a natural disaster occurs,
exacerbated by human mismanagement of the environment, we are caught on the
wrong foot. Worse, government agencies make every possible excuse to shift
blame. In all this, we lose precious human lives.
In Uttarakhand, a messy process of development
that went back many years intensifies the effects of this extreme rain.
Extensive deforestation of mountain tracts by the state and more recently due
to development projects led to soil erosion and water run-off, thus de-stabilizing
mountain slopes and contributing to more intense and frequent landslides and
floods. Unchecked hill tourism has resulted in the huge growth of vehicular
traffic, spread of roads not suitable to this mountainous terrain, and the
construction of poorly designed and unregulated hotels and structures, many
near rivers. Sand mining along river banks has intensified water flows into
rivers.
The construction and planning of hundreds of small, medium and large
dams across have de-stabilised an already fragile ecosystem and threatened
biodiversity. A staggering 680 dams are in various stages of planning, or
construction in Uttarakhand alone. These dams have a direct connection with the
extent of the damage that can be caused in such flooding events, in that the
tunnelling and excavation in the so-called run-of-the-river projects cause huge
and unregulated dumping of excavated debris into river basins, leading to
increased siltation, and in turn aggravating the flood situation.
Tourism in the state has increased by 168 per
cent (213 per cent according to the Uttarakhand tourism department) over the
past 12 years. According to Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), a Delhi
based body of industries, tourism contributes about 27 per cent or Rs 26,500
crore to Uttarakhand’s gross state domestic product (GSDP). The result of
unchecked tourism in the state is evident in the time of recent disaster when
tragedy struck. Tourism is unsustainable in the state as ever-increasing
pilgrimage puts immense pressure on resources. The impact of the floods on Uttarakhand’s
tourism leads to larger questions of what kind of development Himalayan States
should pursue in the future. Before looking into that, it is important to
understand the nature of the rainfall that makes the landslides happen in the
State.
The families which were dependent on religious
tourism for much of their annual income is compounded by the fact that the
yatra season is over for the year, and is unlikely to resume even next year
given the destruction of the roads and bridges in the upper reaches. Several
families will now fall below the poverty line.
What will be the alternative sources of
employment for the newly unemployed? Most likely we will see increased male
outmigration from the region.
The floods in Uttarakhand have affected business
to the very high tune and it will worsen in the coming months. It will
take years to rebuild these small and micro enterprises. The losses to the informal
sector enterprises and its workers could be far greater and more devastating.
The small and medium enterprises are not only good local de-centralised engines
of economic growth and markets but are also builders of social capital after a
disaster. The disasters affect them more disproportionally and therefore relief
and compensation need to pay more attention to their capital skills, and market
needs. The months after a disaster are the most suitable to introduce new and
structural changes in risk transfer practices and institutions. Such new
changes will help in improving what seems to be a mixed performance in rescue
and response after the floods. The efforts of local citizens and the army are
extolled side by side with stories of neglect and delay. The anger and
frustration will ebb and attention will turn towards the constructive challenge
of designing and implementing new structural changes. It will also address the
growing feeling among the local citizens that too much government attention is
given to the rescue of tourists at their cost.
But the question is what does normalcy mean
for the thousands of families whose entire livelihood assets – homes, fields
and animals – have been swept away? What is normalcy for the thousands of
families whose able-bodied bread earners have been killed in the floods? What
is normalcy for the thousands of women and children who now have only a
makeshift tent to shield them from the miseries of the monsoon? What is
normalcy for the husband who has to find a path to a hospital with his pregnant
wife on his back? What is normalcy for the farmers whose irrigation canals have
been destroyed? What is normalcy for producers, shopkeepers or petty traders
who can no longer access their markets? The people of Uttrakhand are left with
no option except to adjust to the reality, to their “new normal”.
The nightmarish roar of millions of tonnes of
boulders, rocks and soil hurtling down the mountainside and smashing everything
in their path is the backdrop of the survivors’ lives now. That sound will
never be erased from their memories. The monsoon is not over. Whenever it rains
heavily in the mountains, it is now normal for men, women and children to lie
awake trembling in fear that they might be the next victims. With their homes
demolished, it is now normal for families living near forests to spend
sleepless nights dreading an attack by wild animals. With their carefully
hoarded supplies of dry wood gone, it is now normal for women to worry about
how they will cook the next meal.
