Impact of Cyclonic Disasters

Impact of Cyclonic Disasters

Useful for IAS/PCS Mains Exam: General Studies Question Paper 3 and Essay Writing

(Disaster Management)

June 21, 2023

Foreword:

• Disasters like cyclones cannot be prevented, but a lot can be done towards coping with them or mitigating their impact. Many regions of India are highly vulnerable to floods, droughts, earthquakes and storms. The risks related to disasters are increasing due to climate change. Disasters like Kyarr, Nisarg, Toukte, Tsunami, Phailin, Thane, Aila, Irene, Neelam, Sandy and the recent Biparjay cyclone have become synonymous with modern man's anti-nature development policy instead of nature. Excessive development policies have contributed to the generation of cyclone and tsunami disasters by heating the atmosphere.

Major factor responsible for the origin of Cyclone:

• Global temperature increase is considered to be the main responsible factor in the origin of cyclone.
• Sea floor is boiling due to global warming. An 800-km-wide strip of the Atlantic stretching from Florida to Canada has warmed three degrees Celsius above average.
• When this energy mixes with the steam rising from the surface, unexpected fluctuations in the sea level start, which develops cyclonic storms. As the tornado merges with the atmosphere, the moisture content of the atmosphere increases by 7 percent, which gives rise to storm winds. This mismatch of chemical action of natural elements becomes the basis of heavy rain, which takes the form of storm. As a result, devastation causes the earth to tremble and settlements to be submerged.
• Actually, due to the promotion of carbon spreading development policies, the temperature of the earth is increasing continuously. This is the reason that thirteen of the hottest years of recorded temperature in the last 133 years are only after 2000 and the frequency of disasters has also increased the most in this period. The heat wave pattern has intensified in the last three decades. It has engulfed ten percent of the earth.
• This is the reason that while Hurricanes Katrina, Irene and Sandy caused havoc in America, Neelam, Aila, Tsunami and Phailin worsened the situation in India and Sri Lanka.

Impacts and Safety Measures:

Biparjai Cyclone:

• Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall on 6 June 2023 in the Arabian Sea. The effect of this cyclone was seen in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
• Impact: Due to the accurate forecast of the Meteorological Department and the coordinated efforts of disaster management, Biparjaya cyclone destroyed a large area and a large amount of property, but could not cause any loss of life. There were also very few animal deaths. Saurashtra and Kutch districts of Gujarat were most affected by the storm.
• It was for the first time that due to the precautions taken before the arrival of the storm, more than one lakh people were evacuated to safer places.
• In the seventies, Gujarat has faced the most devastating storm. Big cities like Bharuch and Surat were covered with dead bodies due to that storm. Thousands of cattle were also killed. In the same period, more than two lakh people lost their lives in undivided Andhra Pradesh.
• Similarly, on June 4, 1998, hundreds of people were killed in the cyclone that hit Gujarat.
• But after this India became capable of accurate forecast of storms and better disaster management. As a result, when the 'Kyarr' cyclone hit Gujarat in 2019, there was only loss of property, no human and animal loss. Similarly, cyclones Nisarga in Maharashtra in 2020 and Toukte in Gujarat in 2021 did not show much impact as two lakh people were evacuated to safer places due to disaster management efficiency. Similarly, in 2019, the Fani cyclone remained ineffective in Odisha.

Safety Measures for Accurate Forecasting:

• The forecasts of the Indian Meteorological Department often do not prove to be correct, but for some time its predictions in connection with cyclonic storms are coming true. This time, Indian meteorologists were able to map the predicted and actual path of the cyclone and pictures of its effect in different areas with the best technical means like supercomputers and Doppler radars. The storm's intensity, strong winds and typhoon speed, and rainfall estimates also proved to be almost correct.
• These forecasts need to be made more efficient, so that floods, droughts, earthquakes and tornadoes can be predicted and dealt with earlier. Along with this, the Meteorological Department also needs to develop such monitoring systems, through which state and district-wise predictions of rainfall can be made every month and week.
• If this is possible then better planning of agriculture will be possible. Along with this, the possible consequences of excess rainfall or drought can be dealt with effectively. Farmers will also start sowing crops in proportion to the rains. So, the farmers will be free from suffering the loss of less or more rains.
• The quality and predictability of meteorological instruments is also needed because of the high population density in coastal areas and their dependence on the sea for livelihood. Therefore, this population has to bear the maximum risk of sea storms.

• It is noteworthy that in 2005, at the time of Hurricane Katrina, the US Meteorological Department had predicted such catastrophic sea storms to come by 2080, but they came only in 2012 in the form of Sandy and Sapphire storms.
• The tsunami that wreaked havoc in the coastal areas of Odisha ten years ago is still visible. About ten thousand people were killed in its grip.
• According to environmentalists, mangrove forests are helpful in controlling storm and tsunami disasters. In the coastal town of Jagatsinghpur in Odisha, more than one lakh seventy thousand mangrove trees were cut to set up an industrial project. In Uttarakhand too, lakhs of trees were cut down for tourism development and the chest of the hills was strewn, the consequences of which we are seeing in the continuous tragedies in Uttarakhand.
• Forests are a protective shield for the animal world and disasters can be controlled by stopping their destruction.
• The impact of disasters can be reduced by controlling the development policies that increase the temperature.

Conclusions:

• On the basis of projected temperature rise, the Inter-Governmental Panel has predicted an increase in the number of cyclonic storms in the Indian Ocean Region. The collective responsibility shown by the Indian institutions in the recent days to prevent and face the Biparjaya cyclone should continue.
• The readiness and effectiveness with which the Central Disaster Management Authority was activated in just four days for the preparation of rescue and relief after the forecast of the Meteorological Department, in the same way the affected states also need to be prepared for the prevention of disasters.
• If in the event of disaster, all the states will fulfill their responsibility with their sense of responsibility, then in future too, India will be successful in keeping the human population safe from such sudden calamities.

Source-JANSATTA                        -------------------------

Mains Exam Question

To what extent have the strategies of the Government of India been successful in the last few years to prevent storm-related disasters? Discuss