Kerala continues to battle its worst flood in 100 years. There is sunshine in some parts of the State while the water is slowly receding and the red alerts over the flood-hit 14 districts have now gone. Also, the Centre has decided to open the Kochi naval base for airlines as an interim measure. However, the toll has been increasing and there are thousands of people who are isolated and waiting to be rescued, besides the 7 lakh people housed in 1500-plus relief camps which are packed to capacity.
The picture of God’s own country remains very grim and there is still panic and chaos all around. Families have been torn apart and unable to establish contact and teary scenes are still witnessed across the landscape. While there are distress calls from across, Kerala is silently fighting a gloomy battle for the survival. The food and daily essentials are running low with relief camps overflowing with people.
Rain flooding has been an annual feature across India and there are 285 flooding events reported across the nation between 1950-2017 leaving 19 million homeless and killing about 71,000 people. In June 2013, Uttarakhand faced one of India’s worst flooding and the State is yet to recover from the trail of destruction left behind. In 2014 torrential rain flooded Jhelum and Chenab, causing nearly 400 villages in Kashmir to submerge. Chennai faced the rain fury in November 2015, and Assam in 2016. In 2017, Mumbai was submerged and Gujarat was forced to shut down because of record heavy rainfall.
Now is not the time to introspect and sit in judgement over faulty planning while Kerala is going through a disaster. All stats can freeze. Let’s not get into discussions on factors responsible for the changing contours of our landscapes, or for that matter, global warming and climate change. Let’s not get into debates on urbanization, concretisation and the change of Coastal Regulation Zone. Let’s stop the blame game and political mudslinging, at least for now. There are lessons to be learnt, but that’s for some other day.
The catastrophic loss of life and property is too early to fathom with Kerala submerged and we need to divert all our focus here. Crops at around 906,400 hectares stand destroyed and the State is starring at a loss of not less than Rs 20,000 crore. Food supplies have been diminishing, and although there is rain water all around, there is very little potable water, highways have been submerged and roads destroyed, all networks are in disarray and people have nowhere to go. There was neck-deep water in some areas and a threat of an epidemic looms.
Kerala has a Herculean task ahead and will have to pool together all its resources to get back on its feet. The rebuilding and restoration is going to take painstakingly long and may even span across years. It’s the time for people across the nation to rise up and reach out to God’s own country. It is only through a collective effort that we can help heal the scars of flooding that Kerala has been inflicted with.
