Tripura is facing one of its worst floods, possibly worst since 1983, affecting all districts, at least since 19th August. South Tripura, Gomati and Unakoti are worst affected districts. According to latest estimates, at least 24 people have lost life with two more missing, 65400 people are in 450 relief camps, landslips at 2032 locations, 1.25 lakh ha crops submerged among other extensive damage. Total of around 1.7 million people or about 40% of state pulation are affected. 3 columns of army, 11 NDRF & 26 SDRF teams, 4 MI 17 helicopters and other emergency service teams are involved in rescue and relief works. The actual rainfall that started on Aug 19 gave enough warning for the state to prepare for the approaching disaster, but once again disaster management has failed to respond using this warning.
Continue reading “August 2024 Tripura Floods: Questions over Disaster Management”Tag: Feni River
DRP NB 7 Oct 2019: Patna – another of India’s water unsmart city – goes under due to man made disaster
There is a lot that Bihar and Union Govt that need to answer why did Patna go under water in spite of fully knowing its vulnerabilities. Why was the city not prepared to face this kind of situation? Some of the major man made reasons include: Sewage Pumps not working, drainage map not available, no emergency plan in place. Not too many people know that there is GANGA FLOOD CONTROL COMMISSION, sitting right in Patna, an organisation under Union Ministry of Water Resources, existing since 47 years now. WHAT HAVE THEY BEEN DOING is a mystery.
Its high time questions are asked if GFCC is doing any useful work. The government may like to brush aside the issues, saying its too high rainfall due to climate change, but that wont help. Patna is bang in the way of Ganga and it doing all kind of mindless activities including river front development, destruction of local water bodies and wetlands, and of course not knowing its drainage map. It shows abysmal failure of the World Bank funded flood management project that existed not so long ago, housed in Patna. And Patna was being funded under Smart city program to do all kinds of water unsmart activities. Over a week since the flooding started, parts of the city is still under water and now the city is facing fresh crisis in the shape of Dengue. The trouble is, there is no sign that the city, state or the country is doing anything to learn from this man made disaster.
SANDRP 