When Nature Strikes

NYCS    13-Nov-2018
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When Nature Strikes…

 
Rain is one of the many blessings given to Indian subcontinent. This weather has turned so many states of India into the most beautiful places. One such place is Kerala. Beautiful and Exotic beaches, breathtaking hill stations, enchanting waterfalls, lagoons, meandering rivers and amazing natural scenarios are what Kerala is known for. But as famous novelist Paulo Coelho said “every blessing ignored, becomes a curse” and so, the beautiful weather of Kerala became its doom.
 
It started with rainfalls on the evening of 8 august 2018, which was nothing out of normal in this month of year. But slowly the rains grew violent and steady and it kept on going, until first time in the history of this state, 35 out of 54 dams were overflowing with rain water and had to be opened.
In first 24 hours, Kerala received 310 mm rainfall and the situation kept on getting worse. Just in a week, 35 dams were open and all rivers, from Kasaragod in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south were far beyond alert levels. 14 districts were put on red alert. It rained 255% more than considered normal. The flooding has been due to a low-pressure zone above the southern peninsula, causing prolonged rainfall. This rain has been widely described as the worst in the last century with notable comparisons to the catastrophic floods of 1924.
 
More than 400 people died in this disaster. The flooding affected hundreds of villages. Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed. The Government cancelled Onam celebrations and allocated funds have been reallocated to relief efforts. The schools were shut down in all the affected districts. Tourists were dissuaded or banned from some districts due to safety concerns. In this disastrous situation, more than 10,000 km of roads were damaged. On August 15, Cochin International Airport, India's fourth busiest in terms of international traffic and the busiest in the state, suspended all operations until 29 August, following runway flooding.  Kochi Metro was closed briefly on August 16 and since begun offering free service to aid those affected by the flooding. Due to heavy rain and rising water levels the southern railway suspended most of the train services. According to government records more than 8,000 cattle, calves and buffaloes, 3,297 goats, and 47 dogs died due to the flooding.
 
As the aftermath of receiving one of the highest rainfalls in a century, Kerala came under the threat of severe drought. heavy run-off of the top soil in the upland areas and the siltation in the rivers were the reasons for the falling water level. The top soil in the hills and upland areas had been removed in the flash floods to a depth of up to two meters in many places. As the top soil was shaved off, it ruined the hills’ capacity to sponge in rainwater. Water levels in wells, ponds and rivers have recorded lowest levels - and some wells even collapsed. The water level in wells, especially in high ranges of Idukki district has come down by 20 feet in just a matter of 15 days.
K. Saseendran, geologist and professor at the NIT-C said that “Normally, a river flows through the sand of its own bearing till the mouth. However, this time the discharge has been full, taking the sand and the rocks in the youth-stage along with the floods. So the water level in the rivers comes down. And when the river water level is reduced, the groundwater table also does not get replenished since the rivers and groundwater table are connected.”
 
Cabinet secretary and Kerala chief secretary held meetings to form rescue teams. Large scale rescue and relief operations were immediately launched by senior officers of Defense Services, NDRF, NDMA and secretaries of Civilian Ministries. In one of the largest rescue operations, more than 182 teams for rescue, 40 helicopters, 31 aircraft, 18 medical teams of defense forces, 58 teams of NDRF and 7 companies of Central Armed Police Forces were pressed into service along with over 500 boats and necessary rescue equipments. Around 4,537 people participated in the rescue operations from the fishermen community with 669 fishing boats. They managed to rescue more than 65,000 people from various districts.
 
Rescue operations named “Sahyog” and “Madad” were launched by Indian Army and Navy. In areas where no one could reach, the Army waded through floodwaters to reach people. Air Force's Kerala flood rescue operation was induction of material, rescue missions, relief operations and rehabilitation work. Of the 29 helicopters two were tasked to drop relief material. The aircrafts dropped around 2.47 lakh kg of relief material in the affected areas. It was the largest disaster relief exercise the Air Force has ever conducted. They had to pinpoint areas that were inaccessible even by boats to rescue people in the flood-wrecked state. They had to use 584 "winching" pulling up stranded people to a hovering helicopter using a strong line. It was the highest number of winching any branch of the armed forces has ever done in a humanitarian operation.
 
For the first time, the Air Force also deployed two mobile hospitals built on boats where patients could come on boats, get treated and return. This helped reduce pressure on regular hospitals. The mobile hospitals were deployed in Chatenkery and Alappuzha . According to the latest tally, 80,000 have been rescued so far. Over 1,500 relief camps have been set up across the state that currently house at least 2, 23,139 people.