Droughts and Floods

Featured Articles
December 12, 2022 Study looks at behavioral biases in crop insurance adoption
Adoption rate of crop insurance low in India despite government efforts (Image: PxHere, CC0 Public Domain)
October 30, 2022 This book by Dr. Mitul Baruah presents a fascinating, ethnographic account of the challenges faced by communities living in Majuli, India, one of the largest river islands in the world, which has experienced immense socio-environmental transformations over the years, processes that are emblematic of the Brahmaputra Valley as a whole. This is an excerpt from the book.
Floods are recurrent phenomena in Assam (Image: Mitul Baruah)
September 13, 2022 Heavy rains and floods have battered Bengaluru yet again. Uncontrolled and unregulated development and concretisation of the city that pays no heed to the ecology and hydrology of the region needs to stop!
Urban flooding in Bangalore (Image Source: Thejas via Wikimedia Commons)
August 21, 2022 Floods are not feared, but rather welcomed by the Mishing communities from Majuli island in Assam as they bring bountiful fish- a rich source of food, nutrition and livelihood for the community.
The Majuli island, a haven for fish (Image Source: Usha Dewani, India Water Portal)
August 10, 2022 The irrigation at all costs mindset and narrow policies for drought protection during the colonial rule ignored rainfed agriculture and local practices that sustained agriculture in the Bombay Deccan. This continues even today.
Recurrent droughts and the struggle for survival (Image Source: Gaurav Bhosale via Wikimedia Commons):
August 2, 2022 The frequency and intensity of floods is on the rise in Assam spelling doom for fish biodiversity.
Life during floods in Assam (Image Source: Kausika Bordoloi via Wikimedia Commons)
Who cares about the public? A first hand report of the tensions prevailing around the Kosi in Nepal and Bihar
Dinesh Kumar Mishra pens down emotions and responses of people living inside the Kosi embankment - to plug or not to plug Posted on 04 Nov, 2008 10:12 PM

The setting is unique. 34 Nepali villages within the embankments want the breach to remain opened. I talked to some of them and reminded them of the slogan that was in air at the time of construction of the embankments, "Aadhi Roti Khayengein, Kosi Baandh Banayengei".

Half full, half empty: The Bundelkhand water crisis
Half full, half empty: The Bundelkhand water crisis Posted on 31 Oct, 2008 10:49 AM

Water and Sanitation Perspective series from Water Aid India, disseminates issues and experiences in India's water and sanitation sector. It is an outcome of WaterAid India's programme and policy work. It analyses the root causes for such a scarcity of water during the five year drought in Bundelkhand.

Orissa Floods: Appeal from APOWA
An urgent appeal to support Orissa flood relief & to provide support to the victims of this unprecedented disaster by APOWA team. Posted on 02 Oct, 2008 12:25 PM

APOWA teams are at work providing relief and rescue to flood victims but resources are already running out . An urgent appeal to support Orissa flood relief & to provide support to the victims of this unprecedented disaster has been posted on the India Water Portal Blog.

Flood relief action in Madhepura MurliGanj area in Bihar: Report from Krishna Arpanam, Mumbai and SSVK
A detailed update about Krishna Arpanam, Mumbai and SSVK's work in the flood hit Madhepura MurliGanj area of Bihar Posted on 27 Sep, 2008 08:16 AM

Response to flood relief needs in Madhepura MurliGanj area:  Update 1

Critiquing the floods: Analysis from the Water Initiatives Orissa and SANDRP
A detailed analysis by Water Initiatives Orissa and SANDRP on the floods that have devasted the state of Odisha Posted on 26 Sep, 2008 04:46 PM

Water Initiatives Orissa's analysis

Water Initiatives Orissa has a detailed analysis of the current situation in Orisssa. The analysis while staying away from allocating blame goes into detail to find out the real reasons for the flood situation.

Bihar foods: People's mental well-being not being given the attention it deserves
Dr Onkar Mittal draws attention to the mental health aspect of people affected by the floods - something he feels is not getting attention in the current response Posted on 25 Sep, 2008 06:44 PM

A very large number of people are emotionally traumatized, constantly crying non-stop and in a state of utter shock. At least definite reports of suicide by a woman has also been received by me. I will appeal to you that a psycho-social help intervention should be higher in the order of priority.

Anatomy of a flood: The case of Kosi in 2008
Nature’s rage has been written about in such graphic detail that one needs to consider how and why disasters happened, whether it was avoidable and what lessons might be gleaned from it Posted on 25 Sep, 2008 09:24 AM

More than 17 million people have been affected in India, Bangladesh and Nepal by the recent floods in South Asia. Around 3 million people have been rendered homeless and more than one million are now living in relief camps.

Details of volunteers seeking to work in flood-hit Bihar
List of individuals from across the country who are interested in lending their time and energy to help out flood victims in Bihar Posted on 25 Sep, 2008 03:42 AM

 

Water Aid India interventions for flood relief in Bihar
WaterAid has been coordinating a flood relief program in Bihar since 1st September 2008 through the VISHWAS network that has worked in Araria and Supaul districts. Posted on 24 Sep, 2008 11:46 PM

Forwarded to the Portal by: Pratibha Singh

Of Deluge, Candles and Matchboxes
The article discusses the impact of the breach of the Kosi river embankment and the technical flaws in its construction, and its current state. Posted on 24 Sep, 2008 11:26 PM

Guest Post by: Dinesh Kumar Mishra

The foundation stone of the Kosi Project was laid on January 14, 1955 amidst fanfare, jubilation and victory. Dr. Shrikrishna Sinha, thgen Chief Minister of Bihar, laid the foundation stone near Bhutaha village close to Nirmali, in Saharsa (now Supaul) district with the chanting of mantras by Pt. Mahabir Jha of Jhitki village and shouting of slogans like 'Aadhi Roti Khayengein, Kosi Bandh Banaayengein.' (We will eat only half a chapati but we will surely build the Kosi embankments). A majority of people lost the other half of the bread too on the 18th August 2008 when the Kosi embankment breached on that day.

Col. Townsend of the US Army while deliberating in a seminar organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers to discuss the Mississippi floods of 1927 had said that even the best designed and carefully constructed embankments remain at the mercy of burrowing animals like rats, foxes, muskrats who can create a hole in the finest levee that has been devised, which if not closed within a few moments will ensure its destruction. The Mississippi River of the United States broke loose in 1927 inundating an area of 51,200 sq. kilometer and damaging property to an estimated extent of two hundred million to a billion dollars. The breaches drove nearly three quarters of a million people from their homes and six hundred thousand of them were dependant on Red Cross. The wealth and power of the United States enabled much to be done for the sufferers, still they suffered. He further added a 'careless supervisor and dark nights' to the list destroyers of embankments. His observations remain valid till date as the Kosi comes out of its shackles in Kusaha in Nepal some 13 kilometers upstream of the Kosi Barrage. All the eight breaches that have occurred so far can be brought under these categories.

Col. Townsend gave benefit of doubt to the planners and engineers when he prefixed 'best designed and carefully constructed' adjectives to the embankments. The Kosi has breached its embankment eighth time and it is for the first time that the 'disaster' has generated so much of interest. These embankments are spaced at an average distance of 9 to 10 kilometers below the barrage with a maximum width of 16 kilometres between Kisunipatti and Bhaptiahi and minimum width of nearly 3 kilometres at the barrage itself. The spacing of the embankments is only 8 kilometres at the tail end, between Baluaha Ghat and Ghonghepur. In Nepal portion the spacing between them is restricted to between 3 to 6 kilometers. Common sense suggests that the spacing between the embankments should increase as the river advances further as more and more streams join the river from western side. This simple common sense was kicked around when these embankments were constructed in late 1950s. There were 304 villages with a population of 192,000 (1951 census) going to be trapped between the embankments and each one of them was trying to be located outside the embankments. Later the embankments were extended and 380 villages of Bihar and 34 villages of Nepal came within them. Their current population is nearly 1.2 million. The village locations were fixed and it was the embankment on either side of the river that could be moved. So did it happen. Now the embankment alignment is a caricature of what it was designed, if there was any design.

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