Industrial and other Manmade Disasters

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October 26, 2021 Flash flood fury in Uttarakhand, a classic example of extended stay of monsoon
Floods in Uttarkashi, India. June 2013 (Image: Oxfam International)
May 6, 2021 81% of the workers reported that work has stopped due to locally declared lockdowns: SWAN study
Jeevan Rath 2.0 helped people get back home in June 2020. Migrants from Chhattisgarh were stuck in Pune when CYDA came in contact with them and arranged their transportation and food through support of Jeevan Rath and SwissAid. (Image: Maha C19 PECONet Collaborative/IWP Flickr)
May 6, 2021 A coalition of nonprofits highlights the unique challenges that confront rural India and provides suggestions on how to respond to the second wave of COVID-19.
As healthcare systems in urban cities across India grapple with the second wave of COVID-19, smaller towns and villages too are facing devastating consequences. (Image: ©Gates Archive/Saumya Khandelwa)
February 10, 2021 The Uttarakhand disaster reaffirms earlier warnings on the fragility of the Himalayan region calling for more careful planning and preparedness in the future!
A view of the Himalayas. (Source: IWP Flickr photos--photo for representation purpose only)
December 6, 2019 Dr. Aradhana Yaduvanshi, a hydro meteorologist at WOTR, talks to us about what current research on global warming shows, and possible adaptation and coping mechanisms.
Flooding in Mumbai during the monsoons (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Monsoon experiences a countrywide deficit of 10 percent in July
News this week Posted on 12 Aug, 2020 08:27 AM

Monsoon 2020: Countrywide deficit of 10 percent in July; September may have heavy rains

July experiences rain deficit of 10 percent (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Amphan’s impact on farming and livelihood in Sunderbans
Millions of people's homes were swept away and farmlands destroyed during cyclone Amphan in Sunderbans. Posted on 11 Aug, 2020 05:46 PM

The Amphan cyclone has disfigured the lives of people living in the Sundarbans. Houses have been torn apart, farms have been filled with brackish water making the land unsuitable for farming and betel leaves have been destroyed. People in the Sundarbans are in a life-threatening situation with makeshift shacks to live in and no means to earn a living.

Betel (popularly used in paan) plantation is a major occupation in the Sundarbans. Pulak Bhakta is assessing the damage done to his plantation right after Amphan. The plantation is spread over two and a half bigha of land. According to Pulak, the total loss he has suffered is around INR 3 lakhs. Pulak already bears the burden of a loan which he had taken to set up his plantation. His future seems uncertain and bleak now. (Image: WaterAid/ Subhrajit Sen)
Bihar floods: 'Living on 2.5 Kg flattened rice’
Only 4,18,490 of the 56.53 lakh people have been evacuated from the floods so far, and people are forced to survive on meagre rations provided by the government. Posted on 10 Aug, 2020 03:55 PM

Two weeks ago, the Kanakai River flowing through Kishanganj rendered dozens of families homeless. While the people in the region are staying under plastic sheds, the government has turned a blind eye to their plight.

Mohammadin is also one of them. He tells the India Water Portal,

Locals engaged in repair of broken embankment in Darbhanga (Source: Umesh Kumar Ray)
"Everything’s devastated, and no one is listening to us!"
Surrounded by flood waters, and taking shelter at rooftops with a limited supply of food and drinking water, people of Bihar wait for the floods to end. Posted on 08 Aug, 2020 06:52 PM

"All of a sudden, water entered the house at night. Goods and cattle were submerged. There is no place to eat or drink. We have been in trouble for three days, but no one has come to help us.” The elderly Gauri Singh complains, with mixed feelings of anger, pain and helplessness. 

Floodwater enters Satjoda village of Chapra (Source: Umesh Kumar Ray)
Floods in Bihar: Pregnant woman reaches hospital in a tube boat
Amid the rising floods and absence of government help, locals help a pregnant woman reach the hospital using a makeshift boat. Posted on 03 Aug, 2020 01:23 PM

Flood havoc continues to increase in Bihar. Until recently, the effect of flood was only in eight districts across the state but now it has spread to ten districts.

Pregnant woman goes to hospital in flood in a jugaad boat (Source: Umesh K Ray)
Affected by floods, locals resort to chowkis for safety
"People living inside the Kosi embankment get little or no government help that is why we have been doing this jugaad for years during the flood season". Posted on 29 Jul, 2020 05:35 PM

Flood waters inundated the house of Ramchandra Yadav, a resident of Khoknaha village of Supaul, for three days. During these days he cooked food by setting up a brigade on the outpost and spent nights at the same post.

Children taking water from a submerged handpump (Image source: Prabhat Khabar)
Bihar and northeast India reel under floods, Assam worst hit
News this week Posted on 23 Jul, 2020 09:26 AM

Flood batters three northeast states, Assam worst affected

People take a boat to cross the flood-ravaged Brahmaputra (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Nearly three lakh people across eight districts affected by floods in Bihar
Floods in Bihar create havoc with 2.88 lakh people being affected. 9,845 people have been evacuated from the region and sent to relief camps. Posted on 22 Jul, 2020 03:48 PM

The annual floods that wreak havoc in Bihar have knocked the state this year as well. So far, the flood waters have entered 150 panchayats of 30 blocks across eight districts, namely Sitamarhi, Shivhar, Supaul, Kishanganj, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj and East Champaran  .

An official of Bihar's Disaster Management Department said,

Life submerged within the embankment area (Source: India Water Portal Hindi)
Floods in Bihar: State submerged in flood waters
Locals take refuge on the embankments as flood waters enter the new areas in the state and government is yet to provide help. Posted on 22 Jul, 2020 01:20 PM

The rains have stopped in Bihar, in the last few days, but despite this, the water level of the rivers continues to rise. According to information received by the Disaster Management Department, the water level of Budhi Gandak is rising in Khagaria, Samastipur and Muzaffarpur's Sikanderpur gauge station.

Village under threat from erosion in Kishanganj (Source: India Water Portal Hindi)
Harnessing demographic dividend amidst the Covid-19 pandemic
India stands to lose its demographic dividend irreversibly during the pandemic if immediate steps are not taken. Posted on 21 Jul, 2020 06:42 PM

The Covid-19 pandemic has amplified the challenges to the youth as regards employment opportunities. The policy steps taken by the government have led to a slowdown in economic activities, leading to loss of jobs and mass unemployment.

Migrant women workers continue to suffer unemployment and underemployment (Image: Pixabay)
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