Flood in Keraland and It`s Impact on Human Life

Categories: Deforestation

ABSTRACS:

A disaster is a serious disruption occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
Disaster generally divided in to two parts it means Natural and Man-made disaster. Both are dangerous to human and also animal life.

Therefore the main purpose of this study is to focus on the impact of disaster on human and also animal life. Manmade disasters can be both intentional and unintentional. It results in huge loss of life and property. It further affects a person\'s mental, physical and social well-being. A natural disaster is an event that is caused by the natural forces of the Earth where great damage and, sometimes, loss of life occurs. Natural disasters can take many forms, ranging from earthquakes and tsunamis, to floods and volcanic eruptions, to mudslides and wildfires.
Flood disaster is one of them on 8 August 2019, due to heavy rainfall in the Monsoon season, severe flood affected Kerala.

As a security measure in the prevailing situation of heavy rains, the Government of Kerala had issued Red alert in the 9 districts in Northern and Central Kerala, orange alert in 3 districts of Central Kerala, and yellow alert in the 2 districts of southern Kerala. Thousands of people have been evacuated to safer places and relief camps. A total of 102 people have died due to rain-related incidents since 14 August 2019, these camps now host more than 2 lakh people from various parts of the state.

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INTRODUCTION:

Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA): 102 deaths, 59 people missing, & 35 injured due to flood-related incidents across the state, between 8th August to 14th August. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) has revised the death toll due to floods in the state to 102. It said 59 people are missing and 35 have been injured in flood-related incidents across the state between August 8 to August 14. There have been 80 landslides in the span of 2 days, as said by the Chief Minister. Many people who are feared to be buried alive under them are being rescued. It is still a critical situation as the calamities interfere with the rescue operations. Districts that have been severely affected include Wayanad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Palakkad, Thrissur and Ernakulum districts.

OBJECTIVE:

 

  1.  To focus on the types of disaster, including man-made and natural.
  2.  To study the various methods of reducing the effects natural disaster.
  3.  To create awareness among the society regarding natural disaster.

 

METHODOLOGY:

This research basically depends upon secondary data. Which is internet, newspaper, Government gazetteer, website of Kerala government etc.

STUDY AREA:

Flood-hit Kerala saw water receding in many districts even as the death toll in the state rose to 102 on Thursday. The Indian Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rainfall in many parts of the country in the next few days.
Search operations continued at Kavalappara in Malappuram and Puthumala in Wayanad, where a series of landslides had wiped out two villages last week, to trace those who were feared to have been buried alive. 
(https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/kerala-flood-2019-latest-news-images-videos-karnataka-rains-live-updates-wayanad-landslide-rahul-gandhi/1672356/?#liveblogstart)

Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA): 102 deaths, 59 people missing, & 35 injured due to flood-related incidents across the state, between 8th August to 14th August. The impact of flood in Kerala is on huge scale which is 14 districts are affected due to the flood and 57953 families are affected. Total inmates are 188053 and 12346 houses are damaged.  (https://sdma.kerala.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/KL-Flood.jpg)

Causes of flood:

  1. Kerala received heavy monsoon rainfall on the mid-evening of August 8 resulting in dams filling to capacity; in the first 24 hours of rainfall, the state received 310 mm (12 in) of rain. In fact, the state received 42% more rains in the southwest monsoon than it normally receives and all of it in a short time-span – causing widespread devastation and loss of lives.
  2. Almost all dams have been opened since the water level has risen close to overflow level due to heavy rainfall, flooding local low-lying areas
  3. The situation took a turn for the worse around August 15, when shutters of the state’s 34 (out of 42) dams had to be opened following incessant rains in catchment areas. While flooding was initially restricted to the banks of the Periyar River – following the opening of the spillways of the Idukki Dam – it soon engulfed the whole of central Kerala as the rain kept pounding. The opening of two shutters of the Cheruthoni Dam initially meant to be a trial run, could not be paused even for a moment following incessant rain. Soon, all five shutters of the dam had to be opened one after the other. But as this discharge through shutters couldn’t match the inflow, the water level kept rising till it almost touched the danger mark. This water discharge from the reservoirs soon led to flooding of other areas.
  4. Rainfall of high intensity with long duration this season and its frequency caused flooding.
  5. Unregulated construction & management of Dams are one of the causes that lead to floods in Kerala. This year heavy rain in the early part of monsoon filled dams of its capacity and due to release of excess water made the situation worse that lead to the devastating floods in Kerala.
  6. Deforestation of hill areas causes sudden rising of water as cutting of trees reduces the water carrying/storing capacity of the ground.
  7. Haphazard construction on hills, failure of embankments to check water flow when heavy rainfall occurs, aggravates the flood problem.
  8. Loosening of soils due to mining, quarrying.

IMPACTS OF FLOODS:

  1. Floods cause extraordinarily large number of fatalities due to high population density and regularly un-enforced development requirements which keep on increasing day by day.
  2. Floods causes massive amounts of damage to human’s lives, property and critical infrastructure (as seen in Kerala) which are lifeline to a state.
  3. After a flood, situation gets more grim leaving behind a lot of development works to do and rebuilding it reverse the current development gains and degrading the quality of life, and severely affect the future growth of the state.
  4. Floods not only affects life of human but animals too as it destroys their habitat thus bringing close encounter with man and animal as seen during floods in Kerala.
  5. Agricultural lands are destroyed, crops gets submerged in water. Huge economic loss to farmers as seen in Kerala floods. A number of water treatment plants were forced to cease pumping water which resulted in very poor access to clean access of water during the floods in Kerala. Most affected where the northern districts of the state. Kerala floods.
  6. Floods cause the rise of food price thus making it very difficult for poor to have a meal of even one time. Also the excess water takes away the nutrient from the ground of needed nutrients. Situation in Kerala is no different as people are finding it very hard to survive there.

The life of people over Kerala is slowly getting back to normal as the rains have reduced. The heavy rains and landslides have resulted in the complete destruction of infrastructure and means of livelihood of people in many places across the state.

The government is still assessing the magnitude of damage due to heavy rains and landslides in the state that is recovering from last year’s flood which claimed the lives of more than 450 people and damaged properties worth Rs 40,000 crore
In Malappuram district, a total 795 houses were damaged fully and 3,409 houses were damaged partially. In Wayanad, 535 houses collapsed and 5,435 houses were damaged. Most of the losses are being reported from north Kerala which was hit the worst this time. Among the districts in northern Kerala, Malappuram, with 58 people dead and 13 people missing, and Wayanad are the worst hit. The landslide in Kavalappara in Malappuram and Puthurmala in Wayanad washed off the entire area.

CHALLENGES IN FLOODS MITIGATION:

  1. Floods & its management are not under union, state or concurrent list due to which states don’t put it in their priority list of works.
  2. Different agencies made for flood management tread their own path and don’t work coherently which leads to failed result.
  3. Man Made problems is aggravating. In the name of development we are playing with nature and altering it according to our own greed due to which problems like this is keep on growing.
  4. After the flood water recedes, the effect of the floods on the drinking water supply. Wells and sources of water supply though pipelines are contaminated with mud and dirty water.
  5. As we have seen in the year of Uttarakhand floods as what havoc it wreaked in a matter of minutes. And now we saw that during Floods in Kerala. (Source: https://www.iasprime.com/kerala-floods-causes-impacts-ways-ahead/)

WAY OF REMEDIES:

  1. We all know since long as what are the causes of floods, still we are not acting on a serious planned note to mitigate its effect. It’s high time that we understand this underlying problem and act at the earliest.
  2. Unplanned construction ignoring nature in the name of development should be avoided and seriously dealt with as it comes out to be the biggest villain in the scene.
  3. Changing the course of river in the name of development should be avoided strictly because it will only a damage stored for the future.
  4.  Deforestation should be stopped and planting of trees should be encouraged. Cutting of Trees in such a large number affects the Pattern of monsoon and it becomes irregular. Climate change and reduced capacity of soil in storing water are the ill effects of Deforestation.
  5. Participatory planning at every stage should be practiced towards floods mitigation where Centre and State works in coherence.
  6. Sustainable development is the need of the hour where human development shouldn’t disturb the nature’s ability to provide natural resources & ecosystem services on which the society depends.
  7. Early warning System should be strengthened. Help of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is of paramount importance in this, as it is happening now as their satellites are sending important pictures and data in detecting and monitoring of situations over large regions of Kerala floods.
  8.  National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP), 2016 which is the first of its kind of national plan prepared in the country for disaster management to mitigate any disaster relating loss.

 NDMP is along the lines of globally set standard of Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction of which India is a signatory. The objectives of National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP), 2016 have to be followed in letter and spirit. When the water recedes, the floods after effect will be seen and a bigger challenge will be there for the Kerala state: rebuilding process of hopes, homes & infrastructure.
Technologically we are getting advanced and better at providing emergency aid & shelter, evacuating humans from floods hit zones with proper means.\nBut what we require here is to make a greater effort to prevent this type of situations (like that of Kerala Floods) in the long run.

We need to find a robust long term solutions so that this large loss of life (as observed during Kerala Floods) and infrastructure be reduced and living beings there don’t live in fear of any future calamity.(source:https://www.iasprime.com/kerala-floods-causes-impacts-ways-ahead)

SUMMARY:

On 8 August 2019, due to heavy rainfall in the Monsoon season, severe flood affected Kerala. As a security measure in the prevailing situation of heavy rains, the Government of Kerala had issued Red alert in the 9 districts in Northern and Central Kerala, orange alert in 3 districts of Central Kerala, and yellow alert in the 2 districts of southern Kerala. Thousands of people have been evacuated to safer places and relief camps. A total of 102 people have died due to rain-related incidents since 14 August 2019, these camps now host more than 2 lakh people from various parts of the state. The impact of flood in Kerala was found on huge scale near about 14 districts were affected due to the flood and 57953 families are affected. Total inmates are 188053 and 12346 houses are damaged.

REFERENCE:

  1. https://www.o2iasacademy.in/case-study-of-kerala-floods/
  2. https://www.newsclick.in/kerala-floods-2019-121-dead-1789-houses-collapsed
  3. https://www.iasprime.com/kerala-floods-causes-impacts-ways-ahead/
  4. :https://www.iasprime.com/kerala-floods-causes-impacts-ways-ahead
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster
  6. https://sdma.kerala.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/KL-Flood.jpg
  7. Kerala Floods 2019: 121 dead, 1,789 Houses collapsed\". News Click. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  8. Indian express news paper
  9. Kerala floods: water levels likely to rise at Periyar, Muvattupuzha rivers\". The Hindu. 8 August 2019.
  10. Gazette government of Kerala.

Cite this page

Flood in Keraland and It`s Impact on Human Life. (2021, Oct 31). Retrieved from http://envrexperts.com/free-essays/essay-about-flood-keraland-and-its-impact-human-life

Flood in Keraland and It`s Impact on Human Life
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