Hyderabad: The year 2024 witnessed devastating natural disasters in India, leaving hundreds dead and uprooting the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people. Of the episodes of nature's fury in the country, the landslides in Kerala's Wayanad in June were the worst as they left over 400 dead with the rehabilitation process still underway.
Wayanad landslides
In the wee hours of July 30, rainfall triggered landslides in Chooralmala and Mundakkai villages in Wayanad and a massive rescue operation was launched in the area. The impact of the landslides was such that many kilometres were completely washed away, prompting the administration to undertake an emergency relocation of the affected people to rescue shelters. This apart, several hectares of agricultural plots were damaged resulting in huge losses for farmers.
Although Wayanad is vulnerable to landslides, a disaster of such a magnitude was unprecedented with losses pegged at Rs 1200 crore.
Amid the controversy over the Centre declining the Kerala government's request for 'natural disaster' status to the landslides, the latter expedited its rehabilitation process. The first draft list for rehabilitation includes 388 families from affected wards of Mundakkai, Attamala and Chooramala, but with locals alleging that many deserving families were excluded, the government has announced that complaints can be filed until January 10, 2025.
Apart from landslides, India experienced the wrath of nature in its worst forms, including cyclones and devastating floods, killing many people, rendering several homeless along causing major destruction to property. The first disaster of this year hit the eastern part of India as cyclone Remal crashed upon West Bengal on May 25. This was the first depression and cyclonic storm of the 2024 North Indian Ocean cyclone season.
A timeline of some of the disasters of 2024
Remal
Severe cyclone Remal, which had a wind speed of 100 to 135 kmph during landfall, claimed 33 lives across Bengal, Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya. The cyclone was followed by a severe power outage and the states sought Central assistance for undertaking rehabilitation work.
- West Bengal government announced a compensation of Rs 1.2 lakh to people whose houses were destroyed. Nearly 15,000 houses were affected
- Mizoram sought assistance amounting to Rs 237.6 crore from the centre to address the damage caused by Remal which had killed 34 people and caused significant destruction to public and private property.
- In Assam, Remal left nine districts in the grip of floods, affecting 2 lakh people and damaging over 3,239 hectares of agricultural land while the official death toll of two was recorded.
Dana
A low pressure formed in the south of the Bay of Bengal on October 20 culminated in a depression and intensified into cyclonic storm Dana. The storm, which made landfall between Dhamra and Bhitarkanika, was accompanied by heavy rainfall and claimed two lives in West Bengal. The red warning was issued in Odisha's Bhadrak, Balasore, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who monitored the situation overnight from state secretariat Nabanna, later said that 2.16 lakh people were evacuated.
Assam floods
Overall, nearly 117 people died in devastating floods that occurred in Assam this year. Union MoS of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai earlier told Parliament that 880 deaths were recorded due to floods in Assam from 2019 to July 2024.
Rai said that 117 deaths were reported till July 2024, 65 in 2023, 278 in 2022, 73 in 2021, 190 in 2020 and 157 in 2019.
The floods also caused huge damage to animals residing in Kaziranga National Park. According to park officials, 212 wild animals, including 10 rhinos, were killed here due to the floods.
Cyclone Fengal
Deadly tropical cyclone Fengal left 19 dead and caused massive flooding in southern India after its landfall in Puducherry on November 30. IMD issued a red alert for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka while the Puducherry government closed all educational institutes. Flight operations in Chennai airport were suspended till the morning of December 1.
As per the Tamil Nadu government, Fengal wreaked havoc in Devanur and 4906 people of Viluppuram district were accommodated in relief camps while 132 houses were completely damaged and 728 partially destroyed.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi urged Congress workers to join hands to help the administration in undertaking relief work.
In the wake of continuous rainfall, the Karnataka government declared a holiday in schools and colleges of Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, and Chikkaballapur
Originating from a tropical disturbance off the coast of Indonesia, cyclonic storm Fengal caused massive flooding and damage in southern India.
Vijayawada Floods
Heavy rains caused floods in Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada city in early September, leaving 45 dead and affecting over 2.5 lakh population. Army was called in to plug the Budumeru rivulet breaches to control the flood situation in Vijayawada while Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu blamed the previous government's negligence for the deteriorating situation.
Himachal Pradesh Cloudburst and Flash Floods
Himachal Pradesh recorded 51 incidents of cloudburst and flash flood this monsoon, which arrived on June 27, and till August 16, a total of 31 people were killed and another 33 went missing. The State Emergency Operation Centre stated that Lahaul and Spiti witnessed the highest number of 22 such incidents, followed by Kinnaur which registered 11 and Una six incidents. Kullu and Mandi recorded three incidents each, Sirmaur two and Chamba, Hamirpur, Shimla and Solan districts one each.
Lessons learnt
Rising global temperatures and changes in the weather pattern coupled with deforestation have contributed towards making the present population more vulnerable to landslides and flooding. Now with overtourism adding to the increasing crisis, many states have started making efforts to promote its lesser known tourist spots.
According to experts, a series of natural disasters have highlighted the need for introducing proper disaster management plans to prevent and mitigate problems. The need of the hour is thus better development and land management policies, they said.
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