11/20/2014

Bankers Adda: SBI PO: Essay on "Uttarakhand floods: Nature or Human have aggravated the miseries"

SBI PO: Essay on "Uttarakhand floods: Nature or Human have

aggravated the miseries"
In the our previous post, we provided you the brief about "How to write essay
in SBI PO?" Here, we are presenting to you an essay on "Uttarakhand
floods: Nature or Human have aggravated the miseries".

The recent deluge of woes on Uttarakhand has tacitly brought a whole new
spate to the forefront. Though undoubtedly it can aptly be described as
"nature's fury", it still serves as an eye-opener too many pondering about the
role humans played in the havoc or at least the role played in 'triggering' it.
The relentless rain which started on about June 16th has lead to many
flashfloods in the area. The ferocious rivers originating from the Ganga, the
Alakananda, the Mandakini and the Bhagirathi almost seemed to be nontamable. The unannounced opening of the dams in the area exasperated the
situation. A State famous for its religious sanctity includes some of the Hindu
pilgrimage centers like Kedarnath, Badrinath and Uttarkashi attracting a mass
influx of pilgrims this time of year. Also being the season for the Char Dam
Yatra in the State, more than 75,000 devotees were flowing in and were
stranded on small islands as the floods poured away most of the roads and
infrastructure here. The mass destruction to the constructions on the river
banks is yet to be accounted for. Hundreds have died and several thousands
injured. One cannot help but wonder was it totally an Act of God?
The answer is a blunt No. The unscrupulous exploitation of the natural
resources by humans paved the way for this gruesome tragedy. Unchecked
construction of buildings on the banks of the river without heeding to the
construction laws in the name of 'development' was just the beginning. Taking
into consideration the delicate nature of these hilly terrains the construction
projects here not only should be mild but should be strictly followed by
Building Laws with adequate disaster management techniques incorporated,
which the contractors with the help of the higher officials conveniently and
blatantly ignored in the race for profit.
In fact according to rules construction works for such a special zone is
restricted to 200m from the river bank let alone on the river bank. The large
scale deforestation for clearing the space for construction of resorts, hotels
and complexes loosened the soils and boulders.
The rampant and un-organized flow of a large number of devotees proved to
be too difficult for the delicate zone to be handled. It is only common sense
that such a heavy load on these flimsy hilly terrains is a call for disaster. The
uneven construction of more and more hydro-power dams on these
seismically active zones only exacerbated the situation. These made the
rivers more ferocious coming out on the downstream side of the dam causing
heavy erosion along its path. Taking the poorly constructed myriad of
buildings along its bank with it was just a piece of cake for the gushing flood
waters. The National and the State Disaster Management Organizations
existed here just for the sake of it if at all they even existed. They were
totally unprepared in spite of the warning from the Meteorological Department
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11/20/2014

Bankers Adda: SBI PO: Essay on "Uttarakhand floods: Nature or Human have aggravated the miseries"

of heavy rains.
The haphazardly built roads in the area by blasting through the hills for the
construction of tunnels made them more and more fragile.
Notwithstanding the strong protests from the people, contractors dumped the
construction waste into the rivers that killed many as gushing flood waters
brought up the detritus and boulders. The worst fact of all is that it took the
authorities almost two days to know of the news and take action and the
Centre even later. The NGOs were the first to act.
Thanks to the media that made the news such a big fuzz and operations were
undertaken to rescue the stranded pilgrims by helicopters. But it is a matter
of pity that the locals who come to these centers on this time of festivities to
sell their home-made products or to work in a tea stall, or to assist the
pilgrims etc are still in dark as the stranded pilgrims have stolen all the
limelight.
Many women of the nearby villages have reported of men missing. The fear
of breakout of epidemics due to the mass debris and decaying dead bodies is
still lurking in the area. The only hope left to humankind is to heed the
messages from these mishaps as we have already failed in preventing it.
Taking a stance of environmental jurisprudence is the only way left.
Enhancing and empowering the disaster management authorities is an
essential step to be taken in all States especially the seismically active
zones and hilly areas.
Use of modern technology like asking for the assistance from organizations
like ISRO for an aerial survey, meteorological departments and experts on
the pertinent matters can help mitigate the situations.
Otherwise the only option left to mankind is face extinction. A prominent
Scientist Ian Stewart quoted "We are locked in a death struggle with our
Mother Natureand there is going to be only one victor and we all know who
that is". Development should not come at the cost of our environment.
Experts point out that more construction activities does not mean more
development, rather they should be people oriented.
Reorientation of development to small scale industries like cottage industries
will aptly suit the place and construction of small hydel power projects rather
than big dams should be given priority. Let us march towards a more
environment friendly and sustainable development and assure the future
generations an environment friendly ecosystem where their hopes and
desires can also be fulfilled.

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