Term it climate change or global warming, the fact is that India and the rest of the world are at the receiving end of natural disasters and extreme weather events. Map sensitive geographical areas and codify a step-by-step action plan
Natural disasters, primarily extreme weather events, triggered the displacement of nearly 17.2 million worldwide in 2018. At 2.678 million, India recorded the maximum number of people displaced — that’s more than double the 1.3 million displaced in 2017. About 1.5 million or nearly 54 per cent of the new displacements in India in 2018 were in Kerala, which was hit by the worst floods in a century.
Cyclones Titli and Gaja, which struck Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively in October and November 2018, triggered close to 649,000 displacements. These sad developments are a grim reminder of how a deteriorating environment is coming full circle and impacting us adversely.
The depth of the issue can be gauged by the fact that natural disasters forced almost 17.2 million people out of their homes across the world in 2018. Ninety four per cent of them left due to weather-related natural calamities — cyclones, floods and drought. About 84 per cent of these affected people were from urban and peri-urban areas. To understand this in a detailed manner, nearly 1,600 disaster events triggered new displacements during 2018. Among weather-related hazards, storms, especially tropical cyclones, were a majority. Geophysical disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions led to 1.1 million new displacements in 2018, up from 758,000 in 2017 — a 45.12 per cent jump.
Displacements associated with disasters affected mainly East Asia and Pacific and South Asia. Both regions are heavily populated and are highly vulnerable to hazards. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas were relatively affected lightly but floods and storms still triggered millions of new displacements. Around 9.6 million new displacements were recorded in East Asia and the Pacific and 3.8 million in South. Sixty per cent of the internal displacements occurred in China, India and the Philippines. In these three countries, 10.3 million were displaced by extreme weather events. Such massive movement of people affects the economy, too. Asia-Pacific’s cumulative economic losses due to natural disasters exceeded $89 billion in 2018 — slightly higher than the 21st century average of $87 billion.
In just a year, the number of people displaced due to extreme weather events increased by 108 per cent. Undoubtedly, the displacement burden due to extreme weather events in the country has doubled. India is the 14th most climate-vulnerable country in the world. With 29 per cent increase in deaths from last year due to extreme climate events and the 108 per cent increase in displacements in a year, the burden of displacement and deaths due to such extremes is rising. This year India will be much more prone to cyclones and floods, according to the Inform Risk Index.
Rapid changes in environmental behaviour and weather-related developments have been long expected since anthropogenic interventions have altered weather patterns and impacted daily lives. India, with diverse climate conditions, is positioned to be deeply affected due to extreme weather events. In fact, a slight change in the rainfall patterns is enough to derail rural economies and send food prices soaring. These conditions have already prompted an exodus in northern Himalayan States where traditional farming families are forced to leave their long-inhabited villages as either drought one year or flood the next year promise to play havoc with their prosperity and personal finances, exposing them to potential poverty if they choose to stay.
On the other hand, untenable agricultural practices have added to the problem. Take the example of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The State is reeling under yet another extreme weather condition of drought and yet, the farmers in semi-urban and rural areas are still practising the flood irrigation system, which uses a lot of water for relatively low yields of crop productivity. These small yet significant deficiencies are overlooked by the district administration, which in turn assume forbidding proportions on the state level and cause enormous wastage of precious water resources.
India being the most affected in people displacements due to extreme weather events must take some immediate steps to prevent the situation from getting out of hand. Sensitive geographical areas must first be mapped and this needs to be followed by a step-by-step action plan that builds on past events and the precipitating factors that have played a decisive role in exacerbating the environmental conditions to the extent that the disastrous weather events are triggered. Unless innovative measures are put in place, India cannot escape the penalties of a worsening environment. The world is already experiencing the aftershocks of climate change and India, too, is increasingly finding itself at the receiving end of worsening conditions. How does it overcome the odds and script a turnaround will be crucial. The Government has a pivotal role to play and so does the common man.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)
