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Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Climate
- Hindustan Times
‘Over 3K natural disaster deaths in 2024-25'
The number of people that died on account of natural disasters (including extreme weather events) was 3080 in 2024-25, the highest since 2013-14 according to a provisional estimate of the number from the Disaster Management (DM) division of the home affairs ministry, although the number is likely to be a significant underestimate, if past trend data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is any indication. The 3080 number was published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on June 5 in its annual compilation of environment-related statistics in the EnviStats report. This number is 18% more than the provisional number for 2023-24; and the highest since 2013-14, when it r was 5,677. In fact, the 2024-25 figure is the fourth highest figure since 2001-02, the earliest year for which the EnviStats report gives data. To be sure, the DM division numbers compiled in the EnviStats report are a gross under-estimate of total deaths from natural disasters in India. The latter is available from the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which was last published in 2023 for the year 2022. ADSI data – also compiled in the EnviStats report – shows that there were an average 7,526 deaths due to natural disasters in each of the five years ending 2022, of which 2,772 deaths were just from lightning and another 2,034 deaths were filed under a non-specific head. In all the five years from 2018 to 2022, total natural disaster deaths were at least 6,891 and lightning and miscellaneous deaths at least 2,357 and 1,706 respectively. Therefore, the provisional estimate for 2024-25 cited above makes sense only if these two are excluded. To be sure, only DM division numbers have been compared above for the 2001-02 to 2024-25 period. The DM division numbers also show that while human deaths were at an 11-year high in 2024-25, this was not the case with the number of houses damaged or cattle lost or cropped area affected. The loss of 61,960 cattle in 2024-25 is 48% less than in 2023-24 and ranked only 10th highest since 2001-02. The number of houses damaged – 3,64,124 -- was 2.6 times that in 2023-24, but ranked fifth lowest since 2001-02. Similarly, 1.42 million hectares of cropped area affected was 6% more than in 2023-24, but the area is second lowest since 2001-02.
Time of India
26-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
Coast guarding
Times of India's Edit Page team comprises senior journalists with wide-ranging interests who debate and opine on the news and issues of the day. LESS ... MORE A ship sinks near Cochin port, reminds India that preventing oils spills is easier than cleanups Debris has begun to wash ashore Kerala's coast, after a Liberian-flagged cargo ship capsized just 27km away on Sunday. Warnings have been issued, rightly, that people shouldn't get close and touchy with the beached containers. Besides hazardous cargo, oil spill is the other danger. The ship's tanks were carrying over 450 metric tonnes of diesel and furnace oil. India's coast guard and navy did a good job rescuing the crew, but fighting damage to coastal ecosystems and fishing livelihoods may prove a much greater challenge. Recent central govt EnviStats patted Kerala's beaches for having the least polluted waters in the country. Unless the oil spill threat proves punier than feared, all possible resources – including international ones – need to be mobilised to preserve this healthy shoreline. Standard global solutions range from skimming oil from the water surface by various means, using chemical dispersants to break up an oil slick into smaller concentrations, booms to slow its spread, and bioremediation. One disheartening thing is that technological progress on this front leaves a lot to be desired. For example, the fraction of oil spill recovered after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not much higher than after the Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska three decades earlier. These were both high visibility events that drew billions in cleanup dollars. But environment experts point to optics and efficacy being completely different yardsticks. Bombarding the DP spill with the trademarked Corexit dispersant produced a vast, cloudy suspension. It looked like it was helping. But actually, it only spread the oil further, reaching even more marine life at different depths. Data indicates that not only is removing oil spills from the sea challenging, it is ineffective even in calm waters. So while keeping our fingers crossed that Kerala doesn't have a big tragedy on its hands this time, it is lessons in prevention that would be of real help in the future. For example, could MSC ELSA 3 have been towed away from India when it started listing? At 28 years of age, was this feeder vessel un-portworthy? At 640 containers, was it overweight? Analysing such issues thoroughly is key to lifting the country's trade by sea while protecting it from the dangers ships can visit upon us. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
