Natural disaster in India

By
Aditi Tripathi
Floods in India
Floods are the most common and wide spared of all
natural disasters. Come rainy season and we find that
most of our rivers wreak havoc allover the country.

Hundreds of people die in these floods either due to the
capsizing of the boats or because they are swept away
by the swift currents of waters.

India is one of the highly flood prone countries in the
world. According to a report of National Flood
Commission nearly four crore hectares of land is
inundated in the flood causing incalculable damage to
houses, industries, properties and standing crops.

Many of the countries of the world have been
able to control the floods and harnessed the
floodwaters into one of the sources of energy.
However, in India we are still so ill equipped that
a few days back 24 young students of an
engineering collage of Hyderabad lost their
precious lives in a flash flood caused in a river of
Himachal Pradesh by gross negligence. Now we
can say in hindsight that those brilliant young
boys and girls could have been saved, if they
had been warned by sounding hooters in
advance.
Although it is not easy to control the flood
disaster but it can certainly be minimized
by adopting the measures like; accurate
and timely information and evacuation of
the people, satellite sensing can play an
important role in controlling the flood.
How floods are caused
Floods are caused by many reasons.
Sometimes it is caused by naures's fury
and sometimes activities, mistakes and
negligence or by the combination of
natural calamities and human errors. For
example many times floods are caused by
discharge of huge volume of water in short
time.
Reasons for huge discharge of water are
Very heavy rainfall, due to cyclone,
typhoon or cloud bursts

Breach in dams

Very high tidal waves, caused by earth
quakes, which are also called tsunamis.



How floods can be prevented
Almost all floods can certainly be prevented by adopting certain
measures like; keeping the drainage system clean, the river should
be allowed to flow without any obstacles or hurdles by constructing
the strong and stabled embankments on both sides of river.

The embankments should be wide enough to provide space for the
flow of the water during rainy season or during flashflood, no houses
should be allowed to build or agricultural activities should be carried
out between two sides of embankments.

Rain water harvesting system should be streamlined. This will help
in the less discharge of waters in the rivers. Apart from it, desalting
of rivers should be taken up from time to time, which would help free
flow of water in the rivers. The proper inspection and care for the
repair of dams and embankments must have the top priority. Weak
spots must be strengthened.

Long term strategy like forestation must be
adopted. The activities of deforestation should
be discouraged by imposing fines and penalties.
The most important impact of the deforestation
is that when the water races through it, it carries
loose soil with it, which chokes the drain of the
river.
Special care should be taken to protect the
areas in the lowlands. But most important of
them all is to informed the people in lowlands as
quickly as possible in advance for the protection
of the lives of people, cattle and crops.
Additional methods for prevention
Other methods, which can be the part of the macro planning, are to
divert the water during the floods, construction of dams at strategic
locations. Raising of sea walls, levees and embankments along the
coasts.

Long term strategy for making reservoirs should also be prepared.
Reservoirs, it has been seen, are more effective in many countries.
In order to improve the efficiency of the reservoirs, arrangement for
inflow forecasts should be made. This policy has been adopted by
the Rajasthan Government in Gaggar basin.Kashmir government
has done it on the left banks of river Jhelam, Bihar at Mokama Tal
area and Haryana at Kotla Lake.

Last but not least, the need is to educate the public. They should be
encouraged to listen the forecast on every available mode including
local radio, television, and mobile sets so as to leave to the safer
places.