India has recently confronted two natural disasters, the Cyclone Phalin and Uttarakhand floods. Both the events left a huge impact on the life of the citizens and caused a huge loss to our economy. Even though both were natural disasters, we can't say they impacted in same way. Whereas the early information and preparation for the Cyclone Phalin made us tackle the calamity bravely, we failed to handle the Uttarakhand flood.
Uttarakhand flood can be described as a great failure of Indian government, bureaucracy and disaster management department of India. It was the fateful day of 14th June when the calamity struck Uttarakhand and caused a huge destruction. Lakhs of people, who were on the pilgrimage there, bore the brunt of the calamity along with the citizens of the state. The heavy rain termed as the cloud burst waggled the humanity. It was the biggest catastrophe India faced after the Tsunami, 2004. More than 100,000 people were trapped in that natural calamity. The means of communication were not accessible at all, roads were destroyed and the rain that never wanted to stop increased the severity of the catastrophe.
Even though the armed forces evacuated more than 1, 10,000 people from flood ravaged region through helicopter and roadways, the loss occurred due to the calamity was colossal. If the precautions were taken in advance the damage to life and resources could have been minimized.
The meteorological department alerted about heavy rain and flood in the region in advance but the local administration didn't take any early steps to preempt the damages.
Even as people have not forgotten the tragedy of Uttrakhand floods, the second natural calamity, cyclone Phailin struck from 11th to 14th October on east coast. The storm had enough severity to cause extensive destruction to people and resources but early precautions to tackle the disaster reduced the damages.
The government started evacuating the citizens where the high intensity storm was to set in. The state government of Odisa and Andhra Pradesh were well prepared to face the disaster. The people from the coastal regions were evacuated to safer places and their lives were saved.
Health camp and relief materials were stocked up at shelter camps to avoid any of kind of health issues. It helped people to face the calamity bravely. The rescue and relief operation lowered the effect of the cyclone Phailin.
The moral of the two stories is, in case of Uttrakhand fllods we were not able to control the loss due to negligence while we tackled the cyclone Phailin due to our alertness.
Mani Kant Jha
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