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| Have we Learnt Lessons from Chisoti & other Cloud Bursts? | | | Omkar Dattatray
Those gathered at Chisoti village for having breakfast on way to Machil Mata Yatra were taken unawares and the nature’s fury that in this case was cloud burst and consequent flash floods and landslides washed away everything, which came in its way. There was much loss of human lives and properties. At least 65 people mostly yatries were killed and hundreds injured and as many as 33 people are still missing. Chisoti tragedy was in fact unprecedented and there were no fore warnings which would have saved precious human lives and also averted destruction of the properties. The make shift shops were damaged and destroyed beyond repair and there is stoic silence all around in the tragedy hit areas and the central government and the UT administration is leaving no stone unturned to rescue and rehabilitate the adversely affected people. We are living in a science and technology world where forecasting is one of the pillars of giving warnings and abstaining people so that they will not fall prey to natural calamities. But unfortunately, there was no forecasting and warning so that people could have moved to safer places away from the areas of cloud burst, flash floods and landslides. Enough loss of human lives and properties has resulted from cloud burst and consequent flash floods and landslides. Had there being any forecasting and warning given to the people, the loss of precious lives would either have been averted or loss would have been minimum and destruction and damage to properties would also have been minimum. But, alas! We are lacking in this respect and the catastrophe is before our eyes. Now, what has happened has happened and in future we should have best systems of forecasting and forewarning so that people at the time of natural calamity can move away from the places which within no time and the loss to lives and properties would be averted. But this was not the case so for as the Kishtwar’s natural fury is concerned. The, moot question is had we learnt any lessons from the natural fury and in this case the cloud burst accompanied by flash floods and landslides? Human memory is short and people forget things very soon as there is an old saying in Urdu which is-Rat Gayee tu Bat Gayee. It applies to the Chisoti and other cloud bursts as well. In future we should be well prepared and armed to face the natures fury and be cautious and alert and should move away to safer places where there is no scoped for the tragedy. Our central government, UT government, NDRF, SDRF and NSS, Local volunteers should be well prepared and should help the people to move away from the areas of natural calamities’ governmental agencies, and the common people should keep themselves abreast of the natural calamities and try sincerely to avoid the causalities due to natural tragedies. We and our disaster management agencies and police, CRFP, CRIF etc. should make all preparations in order to avert the loss of human lives and in case of a tragedy like Kishtwar cloud burst and consequent flash floods etc and this is only possible if people and other agencies go as per the whether forecast and warning and accordingly plan for protection from natural fury. Had there been any scientific forecast and pre warning, the loss to lives will have been reduced to minimum. We should learn from the natural tragedies such as Chisoti cloud burst happening and make contingency plans so that people are saved from becoming victim to natural tragedy. Cloudburst or glacial lake outburst, J&K government is yet to identify what caused Kishtwar nature’s fury. Chief minister, Omar Abdullah, who chaired a meeting to review the ongoing relief and rehabilitation measures, underlined that the real cause is still unknown. One week on, the Jammu and Kashmir government remained inconclusive about what triggered nature’s fury in Kishtwar that left 65 civilians dead on August 14and 33 others missing even after more than ten days of the occurrence of the natural tragedy. Officials in the disaster management department are still in the process of ascertaining the cause that led to unprecedented devastation of villages and disrupted the Machil Mata temple Yatra in the upper reaches of Kishtwar. Officials have not been able to identify if the devastation was triggered by a cloudburst or a glacial lake outburst. Chief minister Omar Abdullah, who chaired a meeting to review the ongoing relief and rehabilitation measures, also underlined that the real cause was still unknown. ’’Whether it was a cloudburst or a glacial lake outburst, the fact remains that this tragedy struck at the busiest time of the year in Chashoti village. Had it occurred at any other time, the impact might have been less severe. These, are the lessons we must take forward, ’’Mr. Abdullah said. The Jammu and Kashmir government is pushing for long -term strategies to safeguard vulnerable areas from recurring natural calamities. ’’The MET department had issued warnings, including advisories against unnecessary travel, which underscores the importance of adopting clear SOP’s and guidelines for vulnerable regions. CM said. He said the medium -and long -term measures must include a holistic assessment of vulnerable areas by experts, protection of agricultural lands, discouraging habitation along flood -prone nallahs and creation of preventive mechanisms. Government was still grappling to trace the missing civilians. It is important to rehabilitate those whose homes and livelihoods have been devastated. The tragic cloudburst in Kishtwar has again underlined the growing vulnerability of Jammu and Kashmir’s hilly regions to extreme weather events because of climate change and raised several questions on disaster preparedness. While the calamity is being largely attributed to nature’s fury, questions are also being raised on whether adequate precautions were taken by the local administration to minimise risks to pilgrims and settlements in flood-prone areas. The fact is that the tragedy was unavertable as it was nature’s fury on which we mortal humans have no control. But with proper planning, coordination we could have minimised the human loss. Government, needs to go for sustainable development to maintain ecological balance in J&K’s vulnerable areas. Living, in eco-fragile area, we have witnessed how dangerous natural disasters can be! Mountainous Jammu and Kashmir is prone to natural disasters particularly floods, landslides, earthquakes. Due, to climate change, J&K has been witnessing frequent cloudbursts in the last over a decade. What is concerning is that be it government or people, no one learns from natural disasters! We have short memories. We did not learn any lessons from devastating floods on September 7,2014 that ravaged Srinagar. Authorities have been closing eyes to wanton burying of Kashmir’s flood plains and wetlands which acted as reservoirs for flood waters. We wake up only when natural disasters strike us. It will be apt to call natural disasters man-made disasters. We have felled trees and woods, encroached upon banks of rivers and even changed the course of rivers. We, have destroyed the natural environment and ecological balance and have played havoc with natural environment in the name of so -called development. Thus, result is before us in the form of natural disasters like cloudburst, flash floods and landslides. In the aftermath of Kishtwar and Kathua cloudbursts, CM Omar Abdullah has rightly directed for forming a team of experts to identify all vulnerable places across Jammu and Kashmir and also suggest measures to prevent loss of lives in future.CM has also called upon religious heads to take a call to regulate smaller pilgrimages in mountainous areas. The need of the hour is to prevent further damage to J&K’s fragile environment. This will minimise chances of natural disasters. We need to strengthen the disaster prevention mechanism rather than disaster management! Government and people must strike a balance between development and the environment. To sum up it can be said that we are not learning any lessons from the Kishtwar tragedy and we and our government should strike a happy balance between development and environment and there is no other way than this to protect ourselves from the loss of human lives. We should become wise and cleaver from the natural tragedies like Kishtwar and Kathua. We should stop to spoil the natural resources and environment if we want that natural disasters should inflict minimum or no human loss.
The author is a columnist, social, KP activist & Freelancer |
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