Thursday, June 27, 2013

Was Uttarakhand tragedy human-made?

Recent tragedy because of heavy rain and flash floods in some regions of Uttarakhand has resulted in heavy loss of life, property, and damage which will take years to recover. Many villages and cities were affected because of this natural calamity. No doubt that the disaster was because of heavy rains and flash floods, but the question is what is the reason for such a heavy loss of property and life? Why they didn't give a warning to residents of those areas? Why evacuation orders were not issued which is a normal protocol in almost all developed countries in case of such anticipated natural calamity. Why proper disaster response team was not in place so that when such a disaster strikes all government machinery doesn't panic and don't know what to do and where to start?

The entire world now is in a crazy race for economic progress. Everyone wants development which brings more money and in turn, is supposed to bring more happiness. The race is too competitive and furious, it seems there is no time to plan any strategy they just want to proceed at any cost and win the race. Nothing wrong with all these ambitions and aspirations about progress and development, they are required to motivate people to do good work, discover new inventions, and in turn bring long-term sustainable progress. But very few are looking for long-term sustainable progress, most are in the race for short-term gains, and the quicker the better. No one has time to think about the impact of our actions on the environment.

Because of recent economic progress in India, there is a huge migration of the working class from villages to cities and they settle in cities in whatever place they find, it is all unplanned and unregulated, and it generates a lot of waste. All these things are putting enormous pressure on the infrastructure of these cities and some of them are crumbling under the pressure of uncontrolled migration and poor management. In most of these cities, people build homes wherever they find empty space, dry river beds, on top of the drainage, on the bank of a river, or on hills. No place is forbidden, they manage it either legally or illegally (with the help of some local politician who in turn gets all these votes). I lived in one of such illegally constructed neighborhoods for most of my life. In the beginning situation was horrible, with no water connection, no latrines, electricity, etc. but slowly things improved and we got all the required facilities. As these neighborhoods are illegal they don't follow any rules or regulations that are there for any legal residential construction. If anyone takes a tour of any of these neighborhoods they will understand what I am talking about. There is almost negligible or no space between two houses, people construct homes like card houses, side by side, resting on each other. People try to construct something on each and every available space. There is no plan for an emergency exit or proper drainage, any free space is too valuable to waste for such unnecessary things. Over the time these neighborhoods grow, many people with their families settle there and call it their home and then it's almost impossible for any government or authority to remove them from that place. The encroachment crisis becomes a humanitarian crisis. Even the government legalizes many of these settlements because there is no other option for them (our house was legalized after two or three decades). Everything goes fine as long as nothing catastrophic happens like what happened in Mumbai (in 2005) or in Uttarakhand (2013). If some disaster (natural or human-made) happens, the hell breaks loose, and people don't know what to do, where to go, or how to escape, because there is no escape path, there is no emergency exit, and even it's difficult to send any help to these places.

Whenever I visit my old home, I often wonder if some natural calamity strikes this place (I really wish it won't) then how are these people going to save themselves. The lanes are so narrow, and buildings are so close to each other that some of them don't even get any sunlight even during a bright sunny day. Even ambulances can't reach many houses as they are only accessible either by walk or by two-wheelers, but thousands of people live there. My neighborhood is just one among thousands of others situated in many other cities, and they are growing every day. These things multiply the destructive ability of any disaster (fire, flood, or earthquake). This is the ugly side of unplanned development. Everyone wants to move to a big city, they are willing to live in any condition but they want to live there. The craze to move to cities is there because somehow the modern development plan of India doesn't include villages. All development is only happening in or around cities, and villages are left out, therefore, people are moving out from villages in search of a better life. As everything happens in cities, it's better to be in the city, this is the perception among people. We need to change this, at least in India we can not afford to have such nonsustainable growth (because of our huge population and very limited natural resources).

I hope people demand better infrastructure both in cities and villages, and once they get it they try to maintain it. I hope they follow the rules and don't play with their own life. I know it's easier to say this than to do but all these disasters should force all of us to think. It is not logical or even practical to follow a single model of growth for a country like India. India is such a diverse (geographically, socially, and economically) country so we need to have some model that takes into account everything (not only directed to the middle class, skilled workers, or educated class). India needs its unique development model and I hope something is developed soon that suits our diverse country and its people. I am sure with proper planning and implementation of good and practical ideas we can avoid such disasters. I know we can not control nature's behavior but we can definitely control our actions and make sure that we don't make situations more complicated and worse by our own mistakes.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)

Links:
1. Geologist explains why Uttarakhand tragedy was man-made

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