Assam, as we know, is the awesome place in the Northeast part of India. We are rich in flora and fauna, culture, music, people and food – the list goes on. We celebrate Bihu our own festival more than once a year. But there is something else that comes more than once a year – the Assam floods! And this time it is the worst that I have seen in almost three decades now, some say in a century.
Out of 33 districts, 30 are severely affected. It seems like the Brahmaputra is flowing all over the state. Homes, schools, hospitals, roads; every place you can think of is flooded. People are being shifted to relief camps, cattle have been roped to the embankments wherever possible. The worst affected is Kaziranga where 90% of the national park is inundated. Rhinos are taking shelter on highlands and a few have lost their lives on the way especially the young ones.
Although flooding happens almost every year, what was striking for me this time was the fact that we have started taking the regular floods for granted. Floods come, people are left homeless, animals are left without food, lives are lost, relief is announced and people go back to living life in the same uncertainty.
The question remains, are we going to keep struggling every year or try and find measures to be more resilient, accepting the fact that floods in Assam are inevitable? Why do we only talk of the blockage of National highways while there are thousands of people in distant villages who cannot communicate across the river? How do we survive with just rice, pulses and salt as relief while our fireplaces are underwater?
What about the most important aspect – the health, and sanitation in flood situations; do relief camps have proper facilities for women and children? What do we do about the simultaneous deaths due to Japanese Encephalitis, the epidemic which has begun even before the floods? Even after having more than hundreds of highlands in Kaziranga, why do we lose rhinos and other animals to floods every year?
The most disturbing part of this year’s flood for me personally is the realisation of extremes we are living in. Within a distance of just one thousand kilometres in this vast country, I found much resemblance to Assam in Jharkhand (where I worked last year), mostly because of the people who have interchangeably lived and worked in these two states since generations.
Within one month, listening to stories of dried fields and drought, and, stories of lost lands to the erosion of the river, where a village is left with just three houses has left me baffled. Both the places are struggling for drinking water, but one has dried sources of water and the other is so flooded that there is no place to fetch safe drinking water. One has dried farms and the other has lost landmass in river erosion. I hope we realise that climate change is real!
Are We Taking Nature For Granted?
Floods are natural hazards. In Assam, the flood is important for revitalising the ecosystem of Kaziranga. But are Assam floods restricted to a natural hazard or these massive destructions an effect of our negligence? Are we taking nature for granted? Why is there ignorance about the effect of the flood that arises every year in this part of the country by the state mechanisms and the media?
This is nature definitely, “but are we trying to outsmart nature”, is what I have been asking myself. The centre has announced funds for the situation, which it does every year. But can we think beyond funding for relief after the floods?
At this time, we are engaging in dialogues about the sustainability of our actions in the various spheres of issues. Thus, we should go beyond the curative practices of flood situations. It is time we think and plans on a multi-stakeholder approach to these extreme issues with water.
As The Saying Goes, ‘Prevention Is Better Than Cure’
The focus should be on how to create safer and healthier spaces during floods, plans should be made for evacuation and for providing refuge to the people residing near embankments and tributaries. Furthermore, a stricter check on speeding should be enforced as animals also die due to accidents as they move towards higher spaces by road. Ideally, such measures should be brainstormed by think tanks so as to avoid mass destruction.
Considering our available resources and potential, I trust our society to act on the preventive side and not solely depend on the government. We must recognise the capabilities of individuals, communities, the media and so on.
Lastly, we can always contribute to the betterment collectively. With this belief, I also feel every individual or group or a community has the duty to act responsibly from scratch. We cannot stop floods, but we can at least try to reduce the risk and help the survivors get back to a safer life.