The delayed monsoon revived, and by the first week of August floods had gripped 10 states. Over a million people were affected and 0.3 million were pushed into relief camps. We have been trained to call this normal. Look at what normal costs: every year floods hit 7.17 million hectares, nearly 4 mha of it cropped land, kill 1,654 people and over 0.6 million cattle, and damage 1.2 million houses. The National Disaster Management Authority’s own assessment for 1996-2005 puts average annual flood damage at Rs 4,745 crore, against Rs 1,805 crore for the preceding 53 years. That is not rain getting worse on its own. It is rapid urbanisation, construction and economic activity driven into floodplains and catchments, and rivers left unable to do their one natural job, which is to drain water. Meanwhile flood management appears in none of the three Constitutional lists, and no government has been willing to put it there.
🔗 Source: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/natural-disasters/floods-dont-move-governments
