New Delhi/Bhopal. Monsoon will remain in the country for about a month. Like every year, this year’s rain has brought devastation to many parts of India. Many states including the country’s capital Delhi were hit by floods. People have suffered a lot due to the floods. There has been a huge loss of life and property. A recent report shows that this time the country’s economy has suffered a loss of Rs 10 to 15 thousand crores due to the floods.
Cyclone, flood, uncontrollable rain… Call it our geographical location or the effect of climate change, but like Asian countries like Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Pakistan, India is one of the most dangerous zones in the world in terms of facing the devastation of floods. One fifth of the deaths due to floods in the world occur in India. One eighth of the total land of the country, that is, about four crore hectares of area, is such where there is a possibility of floods. In India, 39 crore population lives in flood-prone areas. In India, on an average, 75 lakh hectares of land is affected by floods every year, 1600 people lose their lives and the damage caused to crops, houses and public facilities due to floods is an average of Rs 1805 crore. The situation of devastation due to floods is similar all over the country. If we look at the data, in the 65 years from 1952 to 2018, more than one lakh people have lost their lives due to floods in the country. More than 8 crore houses were damaged while the economic loss was more than 4.69 trillion. States like Assam, Bihar, Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh face the devastation of floods every year.
At present, after America and China, India is suffering the most losses due to natural disasters. After 1990, India has faced many natural disasters. According to the report, in the 100 years between 1900 and 2000, the number of natural disasters in India was 402, while in just 21 years from 2001 to 2022, their number was 361. Apart from floods, natural disasters include drought, landslides, storms and earthquakes. According to the report, floods cause the most destruction. Floods alone account for 41 percent of the total natural disasters. Storms come after floods. SBI believes that a major reason for the high losses due to natural disasters in India is the lack of insurance.
Many river basins of the country have proved to be areas of destruction. Every year people build their homes during the dry season and the floods in the rainy season wash away everything. Along with this, the standing crops in the farmers’ fields also get destroyed. According to the Asian Development Bank, floods are the biggest cause of destruction in India among climate change related incidents. Floods account for about 50 percent of the losses caused by natural disasters in the country. Irregular monsoon patterns and less rain in some areas and more rain in others increase this destruction even more in some areas. According to an estimate on the damage to houses, businesses, crops, floods have caused economic losses of about Rs 4.7 lakh crore in India in the last 6 decades.
Despite continuous repair work and maintenance expenditure, embankments break every year and floods take away everything of the people living in the surrounding areas. According to the 2019 report of the Water Resources Department of Bihar, more than 400 cracks have appeared in the embankments built on various rivers in the last three decades and caused floods. Even though they are repaired every year by spending crores of rupees, the situation becomes the same as it was when the monsoon arrives again. Experts believe that the construction of embankments is only a temporary solution to floods. But there is no concrete plan beyond this. Even after the massive devastation during the Kosi flood of 2008, many promises were made. Master plans, task forces were formed. In every election, there are promises of major measures for flood control, but the situation still remains the same.
The condition of these embankments that are being built continuously is such that if the river water is stopped at one place, it enters other areas and the devastation of floods starts happening in new areas. People living in the affected areas consider three months of the year as flood months. In many areas of states like Bihar-Assam, people have even bought boats for commuting so that they can come and go for important work during floods. Farming during the Kharif season is also no less risky in these areas. Because every year the crops get destroyed in floods. People who lose everything every year have been waiting for a permanent solution to this problem of floods for decades.
According to the Meteorological Department, Madhya Pradesh has recorded 904.9 mm of rain from June 1 to September 5, which is 10 percent more than the annual monsoon average. IMD data showed that the state usually receives 823.9 mm of rain during this period.