Daily Answer Writing Challenge-5th August

Q1. In India, floods are the most common natural disaster. What are the causes of India’s frequent floods? Suggest steps that should be taken to ensure proper flood management.            (150 Words, 10 Marks) 

Answer: 

India is one of the world’s most flood-prone countries. Riverine flooding is India’s most serious  climate-related hazard. Floods affect 23 of the country’s 35 states and union territories, and 40  million hectares of land, or roughly one-eighth of the country’s geographical area, are vulnerable  to flooding. 

Reasons for Floods in India: 

Natural reasons: 

• Rainfall: Heavy seasonal rains cause rivers to overflow their carrying capacity, resulting in  frequent floods in Bihar. 
•  Silt: Heavy sediment load from catchments (particularly the Himalayan ranges), combined with  rivers’ insufficient carrying capacity 
• Cyclones: Cyclones with strong winds and high tidal bores inundate coastal areas and cause  flooding. 
•  Cloud bursts: They cause flash floods, such as those seen in Uttarakhand. 

Anthropogenic causes: 

•  Drainage: The impact of humans on natural drainage reduces its ability to quickly transport  rainwater to streams/rivers. 

 Flood plain

• encroachment: Over the years, population pressure has resulted in encroachments  into flood plains, exacerbating the flood problem. 
• Urban planning: Floods in cities are caused by poor urban planning and inadequate drainage  systems. Chennai Floods, for example. 

Floods cause various issues, including crop and livestock loss, disease outbreaks, water and  sanitation issues, the destruction of mud houses, and limited access to basic services such as  schools. 

Measures for flood management: 

Structural measures 

•  Embankments/Banks, Flood Walls, Flood Levees, Sea Walls 
•  Channel improvement, Desilting and dredging of rivers 
•  Dams, reservoirs and water storage capacity improvement 
• Drainage improvement by removing congestion 
• Diversion of floodwater through programmes like river linking 

Non-structural measures 

•  Flood plain zoning i.e. regulating of land use in the flood plain 
• Floodproofing i.e. raising flood shelters, raising public utility installations above flood plain  level. 
•  Integrated water resource management

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Preparedness 

•  Evacuation plan of stranded people. 
• All relevant agencies must prepare flood management plans. 

According to the National Commission on Floods, 80 per cent of India’s flood-prone areas can be  provided with a reasonable level of protection. Flood control and management planning, as well as the potential impact of climate change, must be integrated into the country’s development planning to minimise flood damage. Shifting the emphasis from flood management to flood governance, that is, shifting from viewing floods as an extreme natural disaster to a hazard that  is both anthropogenic and natural.