NATURAL DISASTERS

NATURAL DISASTERS
Natural disasters are,of course, beyond human control. But human action and inaction can profoundly affect their out come, exacerbating or mitigating their effects on people. This point was forcefully made in the united nations 2009 Global Assessment Report on Diaster Risk Reduction. Although natural calamities strike the wealthier nations too.
A report produced by the central government a few years ago noted that about 60 percent of the country is prone to earthquakes of various intensities, over 40 million hectares can be flooded about eight percent of the land can be hit by cyclones and 68 percent of its area is susceptible to drought.
That hundred of people have lost their homes and belongings in the heavy floods is pathetic. The government are doing what they can. The havoc caused by the floods in Andra Pradesh and Karnataka is huge and unfortunate. The floods are the result of heavy rains in the catchments of the Tungabadra and Krishna rivers
I hope the floods will open our eyes to the grave dangers of environmental degradation. We can surely manage floods cyclones and drought with concerted efforts by the governments at the center and states. The Meteorological Department should provide near accurate predictions on the extent of rainfall at least a few days in advance. We are the architects as well as the victims of natural calamities

Prof John Kurakar