NATURAL DISASTERS IN INDIA - AN OVERVIEW PART ONE (FOR GENERAL READING ONLY)

              Phani Siddha

@ Super Sixty IAS Academy

                   Hyd 

PART - I

THIS FULL FILE ON DISASTERS IN INDIA IS FOR YOUR GENERAL READING ONLY.... 

 FOR THE GROUP - I EXAM AFTER READING THE INITIAL STATISTICS READ ONLY THE RED HIGHLIGHTED VERSION OF THE FILE .. 

Disaster is a catastrophe or a calamity occuring in any area due to natural or man made reasons resulting in loss of life and property, beyond the coping capacity of an affected area..

World Disaster Report 2010: 85% of the people affected by disasters during 2000-2010 belong to Asia Pacific Region, In India losses due to disasters is roughly 2.25% of GDP 

UN estimate: 90% of the global population exposed to floods live in South Asia, East Asia and Pacific Countries.

Vulnerability Profile of India to Natural Disasters:
58.6% of landmass is vulnerable to earthquakes of moderate to high intensity
5700 Kms of Indian Coastline out of 7516 Kms, 8% of total area of India is prone to cyclones
68% of Cultivable area is prone to droughts
12% of area of India i.e. 40 Million Hectares, 200 Million People prone to floods
15% of area is prone to Landslides
25 out of 35 States/UTs are disaster Prone..

GSI PREPARING Earth Quake MAPS OF VIJAYAWADA

1.      The Geological Survey of India is preparing seismic hazard microzonation maps of Vijayawada to prevent loss to life and property in case an earthquake hits the city.

2.      Vijayawada is the only major place in Andhra Pradesh that falls under the “Earthquake zone III.”

The rest of the state falls under the “Seismic zone II,” which is relatively safer.

3.       Once the microzonation maps are ready, the Earthquake Geology Division of the GSI will advise the municipal corporation about the areas in the city that are vulnerable to earthquakes, particularly high-rise buildings.

The Vijayawada urban agglomeration has as many as 22 seismic sources, mainly faults, in and around the city have been identified. The Gundlakamma fault is the most active fault in the vicinity.

4.      other seismic areas like Ongole and Bhadrachalam.

5.      As part of the seismic microzonation, the city has been divided into sub- regions in which different safeguards must be utilised to reduce, and prevent damage, loss of life and societal disruptions during earthquakes.

6.      The maps will also help mitigate the effects of an earthquake by quickly determining source parameters and acquiring information about the local geology and soil profile, topography, depth of the water table, characteristics of strong ground motions and their interaction with man-made structures.

7.      According to senior geologist, Prof S.K. Nath, earthquake disasters are inevitable but it is possible to minimise the damage caused by an earthquake if the zones that are more susceptible to undergo maximum ground motion are identified. Seismic microzonation helps by providing a realistic picture in terms of ground motion at a higher resolution.

8.      Based on the earthquake maps, the city civic body may come out with specific designs for buildings and structures, assess seismic risk to the existing structures, and provide guidelines for management of land use.

The main droughts were:

·         Drought of 1900, killing 1.25 million people.

·         Drought of 1942, killing 1.5 million people.

·         Drought of 1943, in Eastern part of Bengal (now part of Bangladesh) killing 1.9 million people.

• Drought of 1965, killing 1.5 million and affecting 100 million people.
• Drought of 1972, affecting 200 million people.
• Drought of June 1982, affecting 100 million people.
• Drought of May 1987, affecting 300 million people.
• Drought of April 2000, affecting 50 million people.
• Drought of July 2002, affecting 310 million people.

The main famines were:

·         In the year 650, famine throughout India.

·         1022, and 1033, great famines, entire provinces were depopulated.

·         1344-1345, great famine.

·         1396-1407, the Durga Devi famine.

·         1630-1631, there was a famine in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

·         1630-1632, Deccan famine in India killed 2 million

·         (Note: There was a corresponding famine in northwestern China, eventually causing the Ming dynasty to collapse in 1644).

·         1661, famine, when not a drop of rain fell for two years.

·         1702-1704, 2 million died of famine in Deccan.

·         Great Bengal Famine of 1769-1770 covered Bihar, Northern and Central Bengal and estimated to have resulted in the death of about 10 million people, which was one-third of the population.

·         The Chalisa famine of 1783-1784 was severe and covered present-day Uttar Pradesh, Delhi region, Rajputana (present day Rajasthan), eastern Punjab region and Kashmir areas. It is estimated that 11 million people died and large areas were depopulated.

·         1788-1792, another 11 million people may have died in the Doji bara famine or Skull famine in Hyderabad State, Southern Maratha country, Gujarat and Marwar.

·         1800-1825, 1 million Indians died of famine.

·         The Agra famine was in 1837-1838, killing 800,000 people.

·         1850-1875, 2.5 million died in Orissa famine, mostly in 1866.

·         The Rajputana famine of 1868-1870 was blamed for death of 1.5 million people.

·         Bihar famine of 1873-1874 was responded by generous relief effort by import of rice from Burma (now Myanmar) avoiding deaths.

·         The Great Famine of 1876-1878, also known as South India Famine, spread from Southern India to Central and Northern parts of India. It covered an area of 670,000 square kilometers and affected 58.5 million people. In the aftermath of the famine about 5.5 million people died of starvation.

·         Indian famine of 1896-1897 covered almost whole of India and resulted in the death of about 8 million people.

·         The Indian famine of 1896-1897 was followed in quick succession by the Indian famine of 1899-1900 estimated to have caused death of 1.25 million to 10 million people.

·         India experienced the second Bengal famine of 1943 (first was 1769-70). Scanlon (2005, 15) says, “The British colonial government imposed wartime censorship on the Bengal famine of 1943 in which over 2,000,000 died, to avoid pressure to divert resources from the war effort.” Some estimates of death put the figure of over 3 million people died.

·         In 1965, there was nationwide, except in south, famine killing 1.5 million people.

·         In 1966, there was a 'near miss' in Bihar. The USA allocated 900,000 tons of grain to fight the famine.

·         A further 'near miss' food crisis occurred due to drought in Maharashtra in 1970-1973.

Some of the major earthquakes in India were:

• There was a earthquake in 1618 in Mumbai in which 2,000 people lost lives.
• The loss of lives is estimated to be 300,000 in the Bengal earthquake of 1737 (that time Bangladesh was part of Bengal).
• The January 16, 1819 Kutch earthquake was of 8.0 on the Richer scale (XI intensity on Modified Mercalli scale) razed to the ground chief towns of Tera, Kathara and Mothala.
• An area of 250,000 square miles was affected by January 10, 1869 earthquake of 7.5 Richer scale in Assam.
• In the neighboring Shillong there was wide spread destruction when 8.7 Richer scale and XII Modified Mercalli scale earthquake struck on June 12, 1897.
• Kanga, in Himachal Pradesh had an 8.0 on Richer scale earthquake on April 4, 1905, killing 20,000 people.
• In Bihar, India (near the Nepal border) there was 8.3 Richer scale and XI Modified Mercalli intensity earthquake in 1934 in which 6,000 people were killed.
• In the following year, at Quetta (now part of Pakistan), there was an earthquake of 7.5 and IX Modified Mercalli intensity, killing 25,000 people.
• In the year 1941, in the Andaman Islands there was 8.1 on the Richer scale (X on Modified Mercalli scale) earthquake causing very heavy damage. It is contemplated that survivors passed on the earthquake survival knowledge by oral tradition, which saved many local inhabitants in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
• Assam faced yet another huge earthquake of 8.6 Richer / XII Modified Mercalli Scale in 1950 (earlier earthquake in Assam were in 1869, neighboring Shillong in 1897, and 1918) killing 1,500 people.
• On August 21, 1988, Assam, once again, had an earthquake. This time it was 7.2 on Richer scale (IX Modified Mercalli scale intensity) killing people. Twenty million people were affected from this earthquake, which is the 2^nd largest number of people affected by any earthquake.
• Anjur in Gujarat had a 7.0 Richer or XII Modified Mercalli intensity earthquake in 1956 killing hundreds of people. Anjur is very near to the epicenter of 2001 Gujarat earthquake (see below).
• The Latur (epicentre), Marthawada region of the Maharashtra state, had a 6.4 on the Richter Scale (or VIII Modified Mercalli intensity) earthquake struck at 03:55 AM on September 30, 1993 affecting primarily Latur and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra. Approximately 7,928 people died and another 30,000 were injured. A reconstruction project was launched with the help of the World Bank and the victims were given structurally safe constructed houses.
• The 2001 Gujarat earthquake struck India at about 08:14 AM when India was celebrating its republic day on January 26, 2001. It was 7.6 to 8.1 Richer scale earthquake, which was felt widely in India and Pakistan. In the aftermath of the earthquake, about 25,000 people died in different parts of Gujarat, including Bhuj (epicentre), Bachao, Anjur, Ahmedabad, and Surat. There were 6.3 million people affected, which is the third largest number of people affected by any earthquake in the world. Immediately after the earthquake there was a total failure of command and control system, but afterwards many innovative changes and institutional mechanisms were initiated.  One of the important innovation was the training of people and their involvement with labor along with professional mason in rebuilding their own houses.
• The December 26, 2004 earthquake of magnitude 9.3 on the Richter scale off the west coast of Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago generated tsunami that affected nearly 2,260 kilometers of the mainland coastline of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry, as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with tidal waves up to 10 meters high penetrating up to 3 kilometers inland. This tsunami took at least 10,749 lives, and resulted in 5,640 persons missing. It affected more than 2.79 million people across 1,089 villages. It is estimated that 11,827 hectares of crops are damaged, and that about 300,000 fisher folk have lost their livelihoods (Gupta Forthcoming).
• On October 8, 2005 there was an earthquake of 7.6 richer scale intensity near the Muzaffarabad city of Pakistan killing 79,000 people in Pakistan; 1,309 in Kashmir of India; and 4 in Afghanistan. The severe cold weather conditions increased the sufferings of the evacuees sheltered in tents.

Floods recur every year during the monsoon season in India. On an average every year, 1,588 lives are lost, 7.5 million hectares of land is affected, and the damage caused to crops, houses and public utilities is 18 billion Indian Rupees (Rs.) due to the floods. Between 1953 to 2005, a total of 84,207 lives were lost due to the floods in India, with maximum of 11,316 in 1977, and a minimum of 37 in 1953.  The only other year that had less than 100 deaths was 1965.

The data regarding each year’s flood damage, with totals, averages, and maximum losses from 1953 to 2005 in terms of human lives lost, cattle lost, population affected, monetary value of damage to public utilities, and total monetary damage loss, area affected, crops damaged, and houses damaged could be seen in National Disaster Management Guidelines: Management of Floods (National Disaster Management Authority 2008, 89-90).

On average, 32 million people are affected due to flooding. The maximum people affected were in 70 million in 1978. The total damage due to the floods during the 1953 to 2005 period of half a century was Rs 977 billion, a staggering figure for a poor country. The maximum damage was Rs 88 billion in 2000, and the average damage during 1953 to 2005 was Rs 18 billion. Heavy flood damages have occurred during the monsoon years of 1955, 1971, 1973, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1998, 2004, 2005 and 2008.

There were wide spread floods in Gujarat in the beginning of July 2005, taking away lives and disrupting many lives. This was followed by the eighth heaviest ever recorded 24-hour rainfall figure of 994 mm (39.1 inches) which lashed the Mumbai metropolis on July 26, 2005, and intermittently continued for the next day. That day 644 mm (25.4 inches) rain was received within the 12 hour period between 8 AM and 8 PM. Apart from Mumbai, many parts of Maharashtra state were also flooded. Many people in the cars on the roads of Mumbai could not open their car doors to escape and died. Due to disruption of the transport system people could not reach their homes in the night. At least 1,000 people are feared to have passed away.

In 2008 there were floods in many parts of India. There was diversion of water by Nepal near the India-Nepal border which lead to the flooding of the Koshi (is a Hindi word that literally meaning angry) river in Bihar. The severe floods made it difficult to reach the marooned people due to logistic difficulties. Many people remain trapped in flood waters for days. Approximately 1,500 people died due to Koshi river flooding.

India also has history of suffering from cyclones.

• The 1935, tropical cyclone killed 30,000 people.
• In 1942, tropical storm in Orissa and West Bengal killed 40,000 people.
• In 1943, Rajputana tropical storm, 5,000 people were killed.
• In eastern coast of Orissa, 1971 tropical storm killed 9,658.
• In 1977 cyclone, in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala 14,204 people were killed.
• The biggest cyclone disaster is the Orissa super cyclone. It hit the Orissa coast of India on October 29, 1999 accompanied with 155 mph (250 km/h) cyclone winds and water surge from the sea. It caused the deaths of over 10,000 people, and heavy to extreme damage in its path of destruction. Following the cyclone, with the help of the World Bank, Orissa State Disaster Management Authority was formed.