Review of past disasters and drought in India

REVIEW OF PAST DISASTERS IN INDIA

The Indian subcontinent is highly vulnerable to cyclones, droughts, earthquakes and floods. Avalanches, forest fire and landslides occur frequently in the Himalayan region of northern India. On an average, about 50 million people in the country are affected by one or the other disaster every year, besides loss of property worth several million.

In the 1970s and the 80s, droughts and famines were the biggest killers in India. Floods, high winds and earthquakes dominate the reported injuries, with increasing numbers in the last ten years. The period from 2001 to 2011 has been associated with a large number of earthquakes. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides and avalanches are some of the major natural disasters that repeatedly and increasingly affect India. The natural disasters directly impact economies, agriculture, food security, water, sanitation, the environment and health each year.

 Different natural hazards because varying levels of physical damage to infrastructure and agriculture with implications for their indirect and secondary impacts. Drought causes heavy Crop and Livestock losses over wide areas of land.  Floods and Cyclones cause extensive whereas damage to both infrastructure and agriculture, depending on their timing relative to the agricultural cycle. Earthquakes can cause wide spread devastation of infrastructure and other productive capacity over relatively large areas.

During the period 1980 - 2010 India faced disasters in the form of floods (in 1980, 1982, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009), drought (in 1982, 1987, 2000 and 2002), earthquake (in 1993, 2001 and 2004), epidemics (in 1984 & 1988), storm (in 1990, 1996, 1998 & 1999)

India is a country highly vulnerable to natural disasters. Enormous population pressures and urbanization have forced people to live on marginal lands or in cities where they are at greater risk to disasters and the damage they can cause. Each time a flood, a regional drought or a devastating earthquake occurs, millions of Indians are affected. In addition to large-scale displacement and the loss of life, these events result in the loss of property and agricultural crops worth millions.

In India, 68 percent of the land is drought prone, 60 percent is prone to earthquake, 12 percent is prone to floods and 8 percent to cyclones. This amounts to almost 85 percent of the land area in India  vulnerable to natural hazards. The main natural disasters in India includes floods, earthquakes, droughts, and cyclones while the minor natural hazards in India are landslides, avalanches, hailstorms, forest fires and bush fires.

These disasters have been categorized into following five sub-groups depending on origin. They are:

1. Water and Climate Related Disasters Ex:Floods and Drainage Management, Cyclones, Tornadoes and Hurricanes, Hailstorm, Cloud Burst, Heat Wave and Cold Wave, Snow Avalanches, Droughts, Sea Erosion and Thunder and Lightning. 
2. Geologically related disasters Ex:Landslides and Mudflows, Earthquakes, Dam Failures/Dam bursts and mine fires
3. Chemical , Industrial & Nuclear related disasters Ex: Bhopal gas tragedy
4. Accident related disasters Ex:Forest Fires, Urban Fires, Mines Flooding Oil Spill, Major Building Collapse, Serial Bomb Blasts, Festival related disasters, Electrical disasters and Fires, Air, Road and Rail Accidents, Boat Capsizing and Village Fire.
5. Biologically related disasters Ex:Epidemics, Pest Attacks, Cattle epidemics and Food poisoning.

DROUGHT IN INDIA

India has a largely monsoon dependent irrigation network. An erratic pattern, both low (less than 750 mm) and medium (750 - 1125 mm) makes 68 percent of the total sown area vulnerable to periodic droughts. Severe and rare droughts occur in arid and semi-arid zones once in almost every 8-9 years. Drought is a perennial feature in some states of India. 16 percent of the country’s total area is drought prone and approximately 50 million people are annually affected by droughts. In fact, persistent drought with less than average rainfall over a long period of time gives rise to serious environmental problems.

Drought in India has resulted in millions of deaths in the past three centuries. Indian agriculture is heavily dependent on climate to irrigate crops. The southwest monsoon is essential for crops and its failure results in below average crop yields.

Sometimes, droughts have led to major famines for example:

1. The Bengal famine of 1770 (one third of population in affected area dead)
2. The famine in 1876-1877 (five million people dead)
3. The 1899 famine (4.5 million people dead)

Drought strikes India every eight to nine years. Drought impacts the poorest the hardest.