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HomeIndiaGovernanceRemember this catastrophe when rebuilding Kerala, respect nature, say experts

Remember this catastrophe when rebuilding Kerala, respect nature, say experts

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The rains have abated and the waters are receding after unleashing days of unmitigated fury, but Kerala’s ordeal is far from over.

Thiruvananthapuram: As rains abate in Kerala after wreaking deadly flooding in 14 of its 16 districts, the focus of authorities has shifted to getting the state back on its feet.

Kannur district collector Mir Muhammad Ali has urged people to devote a month’s time to help rebuild Kerala. “I appeal to the people of Kerala to work towards restoring normalcy in the state as we reel under the worst calamity in 100 years by offering their services for rebuilding our state,” said Ali, who has offered a month’s pay to the chief minister’s relief fund.

While rescue operations are underway to help the hundreds stranded in the worst-affected districts of Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and surrounding areas, focus in parts of the state’s north has shifted to rehabilitation.


Also read: How an IAS officer in Kerala used Facebook to help flood victims


Additional chief secretary P.H. Kurian, who is heading relief and rescue operations, told The Print: “Our immediate task is to rescue people and provide food, clean drinking water and medicines.”

“We have multiple logistical problems, getting people who are stranded in their houses to be taken out and safely moved to a relief camp. There are also places where water and power supply has been cut off. We are trying to provide them with tanker water at the earliest,” he added.

Though Kerala has witnessed natural disasters before – Cyclone Ockhi ravaged the state just eight months ago, killing over 45 people – experts say the scale of the recent floods was something they had not expected.

“One big difference that we saw this time was that, barring two or three districts, all others were submerged,” said former Kerala chief secretary S.M. Vijayanand.


Also read: Kerala floods – The science behind what went wrong, and what we have to learn


“People who usually live in low-lying areas, especially around places such as Kuttanad or Idukki, usually gauge the water levels based on the dams or the rains. But this time, when it struck, they could not predict (the deluge) as most of the dams were opened up,” he added.

He said among the main challenges for the government now lay in helping rebuild houses, adding that it was primarily the poor who lived along riverbanks and on the flood plains.

“On top of it, we can say that roads have been badly damaged. The extent is yet to be assessed, but the rebuilding of roads alone will cost close to Rs 10,000 crore,” he added.

C.R. Ramachandran Nair, also a former Kerala chief secretary, said restoring roads was the biggest challenge as they were key to relief and rescue operations as well

“Most of the roads have been underwater. Any road that has been under a deluge like this will be damaged badly,” he added.

“If connectivity is not restored, the government will not be able to offer help either,” he said.


Also read: Here’s how you can help the flood-hit people in Kerala


Vijayanand, who was closely involved in rescue and relief operations during the 2013 Uttarakhand flashfloods while on central deputation, said efforts to restore buildings rendered weak by seepage should also be prioritised.

“The government will have to help repair them before they cause further loss to human life,” he added.

Another priority area would be to restore toilets, lest open defecation exacerbate conditions for the spread of diseases. “People in Kerala largely use septic tanks and they will have to be cleaned and restored,” he said.

Ensuring access to clean water, a struggle after floods, is also an urgent priority. Nair said many families in Kerala depended on wells for drinking water, which would have been contaminated in the flooding.

Residents of areas hit by a deluge often find themselves unable to save key documents, for example, those pertaining to property and tax.

Such stories emerged in multitudes after similar disasters in Chennai and Uttarakhand, and experts say the Kerala administration must “work out an uncomplicated way” to help residents obtain the documents from state records.

Disease and deluge

Kerala, which only recently emerged from an onslaught by the deadly Nipah virus that killed 16 people in the state this May, faces a big challenge in mitigating the threat of disease every deluge brings.

Steps in this direction have already been taken by the state government, with Kerala health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan in constant touch with his counterparts in other states to seek guidance.

Officials, however, say they are confident that the general health-conscious bent of locals will help curtail the spread of disease.

“It is a tradition here to drink hot medicated water and, if there is a disease, people immediately consult a doctor,” said Vijayanand.

Nair agreed, saying that though a lot of livestock had died in the floods, the state’s people will immediately bury the carcasses. “That way, any air-borne disease can also be controlled,” Nair said.

The extent of loss

The state is expected to have incurred losses to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore after weeks of flooding.

According to the state disaster management department, crop loss between 8 and 15 August alone is pegged at around Rs 200 crore, with an estimated 4,000 hectares of crop land submerged across the state.

The loss to property has been estimated at over Rs 5,000 crore. “The stress on the government will run into several thousands of crores. Even if you are looking at rebuilding houses for people, the cost per unit will be Rs 4 lakh,” said Vijayanand.

“And then clearing the silt and debris. But, in my experience of the Uttarakhand floods, the state can seek assistance through NREGA and later from the United Nations or the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” he added.

The expenses come with truncated revenues in the near future. While many of the farmers and traders will not be able to pay their taxes, tourism and plantations, among the state economy’s primary drivers, will take time to recover too, said Nair.

The road ahead

In a statement issued Monday, the Kerala government said 191 people had died in flooding between 8 and 20 August, with the total monsoon toll at 341. Over 3,600 relief camps have been set up across the state.

The scale of damage in the floods has been blamed on reckless urban planning in the state, which, for one, is believed to have precipitated landslides.

Ravi Chander, a Bengaluru-based activist for proper urban planning, said rebuilding efforts should not involve repeating some of the same mistakes.

“When you come to the environmental issues, this is a good time to see where the model of development has gone wrong at any of the places,” he added.

“It is important to respect nature’s lines. Do not build along the valleys, contours and the low points. We should also learn not to repeat our mistakes and build houses in the same area where they have been affected, because they interfere with nature’s path,” Chander said.

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