Dharali to Kishtwar to…
Two tragedies within days caused by two extreme weather events. But will govts change anything?
Cloudbursts are no longer freak events – flash floods in Kashmir's Kishtwar come barely 10 days after a similar extreme weather event in Uttarakhand's Dharali. Such sudden, intense downpours over a small area have increased in recent years due to climate change – glofs, flash floods and landslides are the terrible new normal. But fact is, the damage and losses suffered on ground are also due to unplanned development in mountainous areas. There is nothing muddy about the impact of climate change, the hydrological system out of whack or mountainsides destabilised with construction activities. One feeds into the other. Dharali yesterday, Kishtwar today, another one awaits. It rains in violent bursts, glaciers are melting faster while aquifers are draining without recharge.
The impact is global. Maximum June temperature in Portugal breached 46°C. Almost 2,000 have died in Europe's heatwaves this year. Wildfires across US through Jan – beyond the fire-season of dry Aug-Sep – burned over 1,000 acres of land, displaced thousands. Meanwhile, it is business as usual of reckless construction, carbon trading, gassing on emissions and drawing sustainability-flavoured pies in the sky in corporate boardrooms with almost the same fervour that marks the inaction on climate, across govts. It is essential to stop activities that result in making the impact of freak weather more severe. The search & rescue in Dharali and Kishtwar is another sobering reminder – if we are not to lurch from one Himalayan crisis to another.
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This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
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- India Today
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