flooding ur thoughts

this being the monsoons, our country is bound to get heavy rains and cyclones at some places. this may or may not lead to floods depending on the topography.

recently we had this situation in gujarat where it caused heavy losses and destruction all around. then it was in north india particularly in parts of J&K and himachal pradesh. this also happens in orissa and the nearby coastal areas. it is a natural phenomenon so we have no control over it (direction and intensity). this is not a local phenomenon but it occurs all over the world. it happened in china and indonesia as well. in USA and the caribbean islands we have got 'dennis the menace' hurricane.

but let us now look at some differences as regards to the destruction they cause to human life in general. infrastructure takes a pounding in such situations. there is huge financial loss running into millions. however when it comes to human life there is a vast difference in losses in our country vis-a-vis other countries.

whenever there is a chance of a cyclone striking the region, the US and other developed countries issue warnings in advance and give strict guidelines as to how to protect yourselves and advise them to move to safer places. various facilities are already in place such as 'disaster management plans'. everything is in place to take action if something unexpected happens. as a result very few people die. as we already know, human resources are more important than any other kind of resources.

now let us look at the indian scenario. in india whenever such calamity occurs, human resources are lost in huge numbers. the losses are pegged in hundreds of crores. but do they take the human factor into account? the ministers will do a survey of the affected areas from helicopters and planes. it is nothing but a joy ride for them. they will tour the affected areas by foot and get themselves covered by the media to ensure their own publicity. the media finds another story to keep themselves busy and increase their revenue. they are agog with news and incidents. there will be special articles related to the events.

the states then demand monetary help in millions. from this most of the money goes into the deep pockets of bureaucrats and the corrupt officials. no wonder aid comes from everywhere immediately. but look after around 6 months or so. you can see the area in same state as it was when the calamity struck. so no one know where and how the aid is used. in fact nobody cares either. in such cases the 'right to information' bill would be a much needed boost to reduction in the corruption.

india is believed to be an emerging economy. it is also in the forefront in areas of scientific and astronomical research. it has many satellites all providing information all the time. why arent we using this information then? why are early warnings not given to those who live in vulnerablea areas? why are they not told to adopt different measures as regards to infrastructures? every year the government talk about an effective disaster management strategy which they feel will be effective.

in short the attitude needs to be changed from reactive to proactive. then only we will be able to call ourselves a really developed nation.

joke of the day:

fred had spent the entire morning laying a new concrete path. as soon as his back was turned, a gang of children ran past leaving footprints all over the hardening surface.
a neigbour, who heard fred's colourful language, reproached him saying,"i thought you liked children"
"i do," replied fred, "in the abstract, but not in the concrete."