Monday, 2 July 2012
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Flood havoc in Assam
Torrential rains for one week have led to flash floods in Assam's capital
in what may be easily described as the worst floods the state has witnessed in
eight years. Almost 23 of its 27 districts are under water. Nearly four lakh
people in 2,000 villages are said to be affected and 40,000 hectares of crop
land is believed to be destroyed.
The Brahmaputra and its tributaries
breached their embankments at several places leading to the worst floods the
state has witnessed in eight years.
Rescue operations are being carried out by the Indian Army, the Indian Air
Force, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the state government, and
yet, nothing substantial has been achieved so far.
Angry villagers are, meanwhile, desperately moving to higher grounds and
struggling to survive in makeshift camps. Around 173 temporary shelters have
been set up across the state.
A flood affected villager of Udiana, Mohammed Sabir Ali, said, "I am
stuck, how will I survive? I've been forced to move to the railway tracks with
my children."
Sahida Begum, another villager of Udiana, said, "I've seen these floods
since 2001. There is no water, no food, for me and my kids."
It is a cycle of helplessness and damage that seems to have become a yearly
ritual. The battle is difficult for the rescue workers too, as they try their
best to pull out the marooned villagers.
P Horo, Assistant Commandant, NDRF, said, "The villagers are stuck
inside. The water level is rising. If rescue doesn't reach on time, it will be
dangerous."
Almost all flood protection measures taken so far by the government to
pre-empt disaster have proven ineffective. Embankments built were breached in a
flash. Roads have been cut off and more than 40,000 hectares of crop land has
been destroyed.
What is the way out of this yearly cycle of misery? That is the big question
we all need to answer.
Raging floodwaters fed by monsoon rains have inundated more than 2,000
villages in northeast India,
sweeping away homes and leaving hundreds of thousands of people marooned
Friday. At least 27 people were killed, but the toll was expected to rise.
Many of the victims so far have drowned, including five people whose boat
capsized amid choppy waves.
The Indian air force was delivering food packages to people huddled on
patches of dry land along with cattle and wild elephants. Rescuers were dropped
by helicopter into affected areas to help the stranded, but pouring rain was
complicating operations.
About a million people have had to evacuate their homes as the floods from
the swollen Brahmaputra River, one of Asia's largest, swamped 2,084 villages
across most of Assam
state, officials said.
Assam's
flooded capital, Gauhati, was hit by mudslides that buried three people. Many
of the city's two million residents were navigating the submerged streets in
rubber dinghies and small wooden boats. Most businesses were closed.
Telephone lines were knocked out and some train services were cancelled
after their tracks were swamped by mud. As the floods soaked the Kaziranga game
reserve east of Gauhati, motorists reported seeing a one-horned rhino fleeing
along a busy highway.
"We never thought the situation would turn this grim when the
monsoon-fed rivers swelled a week ago," said Nilomoni Sen Deka, an Assam
government minister.
Residents of Majuli, an 800-square-kilometre island in the middle of the Brahmaputra River, watched helplessly as the
swirling, grey waters swallowed 50 villages and swept away their homes.
"We are left with only the clothes we are wearing," said 60-year-old
Puniram Hazarika, one of about 75,000 island residents now camping in makeshift
shelters of bamboo sticks and plastic tarps on top of a mud embankment soaked
by rain.
Nearby, a herd of 70 endangered Asiatic elephants, which usually avoid
humans, was grouped together, Majuli island wildlife official Atul Das said.
"The jumbos have not caused any harm, but we are keeping a close
watch," he said.
In neighbouring Nepal,
landslides also triggered by monsoon rains killed at least eight people
Thursday night and left two others missing.
Sunday, 13 May 2012
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Friday, 24 February 2012
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
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