Investigating AClimate Disaster:
WhenClimate Chaos combines with
Insane ‘Developmentalism’and State Apathy
A preliminary assessment of climatic disaster affectedcommunities
in Bhatwari block of Uttarkashi District – on behalf of Beyond Copenhagen.
(3-day preliminary assessment
tour undertaken on 31 August to 2 September, 2013)
Exploratory assessment &report- Dr. Malathi A.& Mr Soumya Dutta
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Introduction -The
recent extreme climate events in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in June 2013 were
shockingly painful for us – not only for their extents of damages and losses of
human & other lives, but also for the extreme lack of
preparedness and organized response – pre and post disaster - from the State
and many other actors. As per reports, several thousand people have been
killed, along with tens of thousands of livelihood animals. The losses of near
& dear ones, homes, farms, the trauma of seeing revered rivers turn
destroyers, of massive destruction strewn all around – all are weighing down
the surviving communities in the most badly affected areas.Along with the
physical catastrophe, the psychological devastation is pressing down hard on
these communities.
In this backdrop,
and as a follow up of BCPH (Beyond Copenhagen collective) work with the State
Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC) and the larger Climate Crisis issues –
over the last five years, we at Beyond Copenhagen felt that conducting a comprehensive
assessment of the causal factors and the damage & loss will be an
imperative. As the world is debating
Climate Change and its impacts, and more recently – the Damage & Loss from
such impacts, in developing countries – this micro-scale effort might also
contribute to that. We also felt that this can lead to the initiation of a community-centric
response to future climatic disasters (aggravated by developmental
interventions – as in this case) and getting communities organized & empowered
– will be a challenging, but worthwhile & very meaningful undertaking.
The climate factor
–In the middle of June 2013, the (south-Asian) south-west monsoon behaved in a ‘never-before-seen’
manner and swept from east of Uttarakhand to west of Himachal Pradesh in little
more than a day, from 14th to 16th June 2013, while the
‘normal monsoon onset date’ for western Himachal Pradesh is around end-June.In
fact, normal monsoon onset date of 15th July for western Rajasthan
at the extreme west of India was breached – all of a sudden, at a ‘lightning
speed’ – and it was monsoon there too, on 16thof June !
Coupled with a
reported western disturbance, this caused extremely heavy / very heavy rainfalls
(in IMD terminology, ‘extremely heavy rainfall’ at any place is defined as
>244.5 mm in a day, while ‘very heavy’ is between 124.5 and 244.5 mm/day) in
four districts of Uttarakhand & Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh.For
Uttarakhand, this was a monsoon come 2-weeks in advance, and in rapid
progression. In mid-to-high altitude
ranges of Uttarakhand, snow was still melting, and the excessive rainfall on
melting snow – coupled with the lake-wall bursting, brought the death-bringing
slush-flows on to Kedarnath.While the whole of Uttarakhand received a whopping
254% excess rainfall between June 01—24 over the long period average, Himachal Pradesh
as a whole received an excess of 184% (IMD June 01-24 rainfall)
The ‘abnormality’, or ‘climate change’ footprint of
this event also comes out from the fact
that the ‘normal’ annual precipitation (rain & snow) in this region of
Uttarkashi district is about 1400 mm (source - SAPCC of Uttarakhand), and the
monsoon months account for about 75%, or about 1050 mm. Thus, about 30% of the entire
normal 3-month long monsoon precipitation came down as torrential rains, in
little more than a day.We have to remember that rain-fall before the
monsoon is small, thus making the June 14-24 period very very wet. Heavy, rain-saturated mountain slopes gave
way in slides in a myriad places, wherever these slopes were made weak through
removing vegetation or blasting.
The extremely
heavy rainfall events of June 15-16 in the upper reaches of Uttarakhand &in
Kinnaur of Himachal Pradeshand neighbouring south-west Tibet (NASA)
Fed massive
volumes of water to all these Himalayan Rivers and flooded large areas of both
Ganga & Yamuna basins and their many tributaries.
NASA satellite images show – above: extremely heavy rain fall (dark blue
areas>300 mm/day) happened in Pithoragarh, Chamoli, Rudraprayag &
Uttarkashi, and in Kinnaur of HP. Heavy
to very heavy rainfall also occurred in many neighbouringareas of south Tibet.
NASA satellite images - below left shows heavy snow &rain-clouds over
Uttarakhand areas on 17thof June, while below right is an image of
the flooding in Ganga, Yamuna, Ghagra& their many tributaries (usually seen in satellite images
of this resolution - as very thin threads, but in this image – wide swathes of
5-12 KMs on 20th).
The Himalayas are much more
vulnerable compared to plains India and are reportedly getting warmer at a much
faster rate of nearly 0.6 °C every decade, about three times the global average
warming rate. Average annual rainfall is increasing at a rate of about 65 millimetres
each decade and the monsoon season is getting wetter, while winters are getting
increasingly drier (according to Shrestha, U. B., Gautam, S. & Bawa, K. PLoS ONE 7,
e36741 (2012).
If we look at
meteorological data from IMD (the records for Dehradoon, the capital city of
Uttarakhand – as an important city, is available for the last 100 years), and compare
the June rainfall data for the first decade of the 20th century with
its last decade – the difference is striking.
In place of a monthly average of 123 mm in averaged June from 1901-1910,
the last decade years 1991-2000 shows June average rains as 373 mm ! This might not be exclusively driven by
global warming, but the massive change is sure indication of larger-than-local
drivers. Even from this higher figures,
the single day precipitation of about 300 mm points to a climate change on
steroids.
Thus, the tragic climatic events of mid-June, over
the Indian Himalayas and adjoining areas of Nepal & Tibet – are anything
but “normal”, and have “Climate Change Impacts” written all over them, however much we try to play that connection down
due to “lack of solid scientific evidence”.
Facing these massive challenges, it’s doubtful whether ‘responsible
authorities’ are even aware of the magnitude of the problem(s). For example, the huge urbanisation drive that
Dehradoon has undergone in the last 10-12 years (a period after the above IMD
records), will be magnifying any extreme climate event that might befall this
un-prepared city – but who is listening ?
Evaluating the “LOSS & DAMAGE”:a clear case for
Climate Finance – As shown in the
previous section, the extreme climatic events of June 15-17 in parts of the
Indian Himalayas (and some parts of adjoining Nepal& south Tibet), were far
from ‘normal’, and has clear signs of “CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTs”. In the global climate change negotiations,
the recognition that serious climate change impacts are already happening and
are causing massive damages to vulnerable sections of third-world society, has
now given rise to the concept of (and work on) climate change induced ‘Loss
& damage’. There is a clear
reference in the UNFCCC CoP-16 (Conference of Parties-16, to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change) held in Cancun, Mexico - to address the
issue of Loss & damage arising out of the impacts of climate change in
developing countries, with the idea of connecting these to climate finance.
“The Conference of Parties
(COP) in its decision 1/CP.16 established the Cancun Adaptation
Framework with the
objective of enhancing action on adaptation. It further decided to
establish a work programme in order to consider approaches to address loss and
damage associated with climate change impacts in developing countries that are
particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
The COP, by the same decision, requested the SBI to agree on activities to be undertaken under the work programme and to make recommendations on loss and damage to the COP for its consideration at COP 18.”(from- UNFCCC side event on Current knowledge, expertise and potential support to the work programme on loss and damage under the Cancun Adaptation Framework).
We also hope that through various
such assessment works, the climate justice question for those contributing to
the destructive change will be held more firmly accountable to the actual
damages caused by their emissions.
Wrong ‘Development’ and human greedcontributed in equal measures – This extreme
climatic event was made much more devastating by the wrong development policies
and greed in large measures. In river valley after river valley in the
Himalayas, hydroelectricity projects have blasted geologically unstable
mountain slopes, drilled massive tunnels through these fragile mountains and
dumped the muck in the river beds. The
picture below shows the ‘small’ Assiganga-II hydroelectricity project’s tunnel,
seen narrowing the river by dumping drilled muck directly into the river bed,
forcing it to re-route towards the other bank.
This is not a ‘big’ tunnel, but neither is Assiganga a ‘big’ river like
Bhagirathi or Alaknanda. And during the August 2012 floods, Assiganga washed
away large parcels of land here in the ‘other bank’.
This has not only
narrowed down the rivers (just like Delhi did to Yamuna), but also made
mountain slopes more prone to slides with rains. And the torrents of water combined with dumped
muck & silt, made for a potent hammering to both its banks, and anything in
between. On top of that, structures like
power houses, hotels, resorts ….had been built right on the river beds, making
them extremely vulnerable. (below – destroyed Assiganga-II power house,
situated bang in the middle of the river bed). Our blind greed has made us
ignore the fact that rivers own and need the entire river bed, not a narrowed,
‘trained’ channel.
This reinforced
concrete structure of the Assiganga-II powerhouse was no match for the enraged
river, which smashed and forced through the power house during the August 2012
cloud-burst incident, throwing unfortunate people there dead and mutilated and reclaiming
what is her right – the entire river bed.
Instead of learning from these wrongs, the State (this is a project of
‘Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam’ and is financed by NABARD – both Govt agencies)
is now spending more public money to “train” the river with stone structures
(visible in the picture above), thus again narrowing the rivers width of flow –
till Assiganga gets angry again. The
forest department also built a nursery encroaching on the river bed, just
downstream of the power house, and that too has been wiped away,without a trace
- by the raging river. Similar hydro-power-dam enhanced disaster stories are
there from Alaknanda valley too, where both the Vishnugad & Srinagar hydro
projects created havoc, by not opening the sluice gates in time, by blasting
the mountainside with dynamites, by dumping huge amounts of drilled muck in the
river bed – restricting the rivers flow capacity drastically. In this report,
though, we will be restricting findings from our first hand data &
information from the current visit to Uttarkashi district.
Many hotels &
houses were also allowed to be constructed on the river bed, and when the super
heavy rains came, entire settlements were wiped out (below – earth moving
machinery removing debris from river bed, with remains of destroyed houses from
the ‘illegal’ river-bed settlement visible near the confluence of Assiganga
with Bhagirathi – seen at extreme right, at Gangori, five KMs upstream of
Uttarkashi).
Cutting through
the vegetation cover and blasting loosely held rock-soil aggregates on these steep
mountain slopes – for building big roads, has also contributed to repeated landslides
in many places. There is a big difference
though – as roads have become a vital part of the mountain community’s lives
and economy, unlike the dams & hydro-power projects – which have benefited
few locals. Still, there are now
compelling reasons to critically examine whether there are other methods of
transportation that can better suit mountain conditions – and be less damaging
to these fragile mountains – at least in some cases. Unfortunately, in the strong and emotional
demand for quick road restoration (no doubt, a very genuine & urgent
requirement), this exploration of possible less-damaging alternative is likely
to be buried. (below - one of numerous slides from the road zones, on NH-108.
Remnants of the road is visible from centre-right of the picture)
The decision to do more
- We at BCPH were very disturbed by the large scale loss of lives &
property of the vulnerable mountain people, and even more by the callous
neglect by the State and other ‘responsible’ actors – to take reasonable
measures to reduce these impacts. Having
engaged with the Uttarakhand State Action Plan on Climate Change – with a
variety of actors over the past 2 ½ years, specially the adaptation needs - we
decided to take some small grounded action. Uttarkashi district being one of
the most severely affected districts (others are Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag &
Chamoli) in Uttarakhand, and our being a little more familiar with these areas,
led to the selection of Bhatwari Block in Uttarkashi district as one area where
we might initiate this work & where major devastation has occurredand the
plight of many interior villages are not fully known. Further, Dr Malathi of
Delhi University’s Deptt of Social Work – who agreed to collaborate on this,
had earlier lead some research in nearby areas, and established some contacts,
which can facilitate the present work.
The objectiveof
the exploratory visit was to reach some of the villages in Uttarkashi district badly
affected by therecent ‘extreme climatic event’and to understand the extent of
damage and loss to the lives and livelihoods of the people – as well as the
local economy - as a precursor to serious and in-depth investigation which will
pave way for a comprehensive intervention in the near future.
The preliminary/exploratory assessments were with
regard to --
a. the kinds & extents of damages & losses
suffered by people/ communities/ local economy of this area of Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand,
b. the kinds & reach of various responses by
different agencies - Govt & non-govt, in these areas, and
c. the critical needs of and responses needed to help
affected communities;
The assessment was undertaken from 31st
August to 2nd September
Places visitedand
their brief demographic data (places visited are yellow-pointer marked in the Google
image below) –
Base :Uttarkashi
town (1145 metres above MSL, 30-43-47 N, 78-26-41 E);
In Bhagirathi
valley - road-side villages of –-
Netala (~1300 Mtr),HH-270,
Tot_P-1311, Tot_M-680, Tot_F-631, Pop_06-145;
Maneri (~1370 Mtr),
HH-299, Tot_P-1271, Tot_M-697, Tot_F-574, Pop_06-165;
mountain villages
of--
Kaneth(~1630 Mtr),
HH-1(?), Tot_P-6 (?);
Aungee (~1680 Mtr),
HH-66, Tot_P-302, Tot_M-162, Tot_F-140, Pop_06-46;
Bisanpur (in
Sainj)(~1460 Mtr), HH-15,
In Assi ganga
valley – roadside villages of Rabara (~1300 Mtr), Dagali,
Seen theravaged villages
of –
Didsari (~1370
Mtr), HH-71, Tot_P-383, Tot_M-194, Tot_F-189, Pop_06-54;
Uttoro (~1260 Mtr),
HH-
HH- Total no of
House Holds, Tot_P is total population, Tot_M is total no of males, Tot_F is
total no of females, and Pop_06 is no of
children between 0 & 6 yrs. of age.
Preliminary Assessments
a.
Immediate Relief
- some relief is reaching villages - though not regularly, both from the
Govt, as well as from NGOs, with support from international / national funding
agencies like PLAN, CASA, OXFAM, Action Aid, JAPAN Foundation, Reliance
foundation etc. Road-proximate villages are
better off in this regard. Several NGOs
of Uttarakhand, like Bhuvaneswari Mahila Ashram, Himalayan Paryavaran Suraksha
Samity, ……… are acting as the outreach arms of these funding agencies &
Govt.
b.
Relief continuation
- These ‘relief’ are mostly in terms of some food/rations (critically needed in
interiorvillages), tarpaulin sheets, solar lanterns & other
flashlights,medicines, dailynecessities like soap, matchboxes and candles. Worryingly - Even 2 ½ months after the
disaster, many communities are desperate for regular & basic food supply ! After an initial 15 Kgs each of rice &Atta,
the Govt has not been a major provider.
Cooking gas cylinders are being reached to some road-side &
road-proximate villages – some time on mules hired by the Govt agencies, but
interior villages are still deprived.
c.
Monetary compensation for property losses - Very little in terms of monetary compensation
for loss of houses & land (pics below) - have actually reached people,
though announcements have been made by the Govt. Several families whose
houses have been totally destroyed, have received Rs.2 lakh as compensation,
not good enough to make even a one-room house in these difficult mountain
terrains. Again, more people in road-proximate villages have received, others -very
little or none.
d.
Didsari village
suffered immense losses – lives, houses, land.
Many families were re-settled here from the old Didsari village after
the 1991 earthquake, to be devastated once again – by rain & floods this
time). Just looking at the Didsari village, which have reportedly lost (washed
away or very badly damaged) 53 houses, a modest Rs.4 lakh per house (even if
the land for building these are given free by the government) will require Rs. Two
crore twelve-lakhs. And the houses
nearby will also be feeling the threat.
The farm lands lost are also huge – and @Rs.1.2 lakh per ‘Nali’, will
add more crores.
e.
Loss of human lives
is another point - with no major assessment effort to include migrant workers /
non- registered residents. During
this short trip, we did not enquire about compensation for death & other
human losses. Also, Uttarkashi district
has not reported major losses of human lives.
f.
Lots of other material damages, like economically productive "Gharats" (traditional
water mills) having beenwashed away - have not even been mentioned forcompensation.
Many other livelihood losses are massive - no compensation yet, not to
talk aboutrestoration;
g.
Productive / livelihood animal loss assessments have also not been done in any rigorousmanner.Cattle,
sheep, goats and mules have been lost. While each mule costs Rs.80,000 to 100,000
(being a valuable livelihood resource in mountain transport in remote areas),
cost of other animals vary with their age, productivity & breed. Though the Govt has announced some
compensations, many who lost animals are yet to get compensation.
h.
As there are few options for incomes and food is
scarce, the old, infirm, ex-business-persons – all have been forced to eke out
livings through whatever is available, like carrying stones for construction –
under MGNREGS (picture above) orseeking shelter in Ashrams wherever available. We met many people with similar sentiments –
‘we don’t want to live like beggars, but unless the roads are restored – we
have no options’. This was reflected in
the angry rally in Uttarkashi town, with the slogan – “Nahichahiye ye rahatkesaman,
HamedoSadak,SurakhsaaurSamman”.
(“We don’t want this relief material,
Give us Roads, Safety and Dignity”).
The
persistent demand for and critical importance of ‘sadak’ (roads) was all
pervasive, and everyone seem to be waiting for the day when the roads are
opened, tourists come in numbers and employment & livelihood options are
created again.The repeated expressions of “aaj to jhelliya, kaalkeyakhayenge?”
(“this time we are suffering, but what will we eat tomorrow?”) cropped up at
many places.
i.
Massive losses to the livelihoods & local
economy from tourism - is largely un-addressed.This
is a state where the “char dham” religious destinations and the mighty
Himalayas used to bring several millions of pilgrims and tourists/ trekkers
every year. The state gets about 65% of its income from services sector – and
most of it from tourism, along with a bulk of the employments and livelihoods
provided by tourism (apart from agri& horticulture, where opportunities
have shrunk) – and can ill afford to neglect this aspect. Some people are now blaming the huge rush of
tourists and that is partly true, but looking at the thousands of small
family-run hotels, guest houses & restaurants lying closed due to no
tourist arrival, and the local economy in a shambles – deeper investigations
& better ‘solutions’ than the blame games – are called for.
Apart
from the loss of current-season’s income, many of the owner-entrepreneurs are
hard-pressed to pay mortgage payments to banks on the loans they took for these
enterprises. All tourism sector jobs (the
major contributor to both employment & income) like hotel operators, cooks,
guides, porters, tour operators, drivers,….very seriously affected.A roughly
estimated 54,000 drivers of commercial vehicles – mostly dependent on tourists,
were badly affected in the beginning, but are now trying to recoup losses by
charging usurious rates. And the burden
is falling on mostly locals, as there are hardly any tourists even now (1st
week of September, 2013) – over 2 ½ months after the disaster. Even those seemingly less dependent on
tourism – milk producers, wool & woollen clothing artisans & sellers/
shops etc. are in a terrible slump due to drastic shrinkage of tourism markets.
Many of these outlets are lying closed. (below - small hotel by Bhagirathi
river, beyond Netala – all closed for last 2 ½ months)
j.
Very little or zero disaster preparedness is visible - in terms of building community
organization/ capacity or preparing vulnerable communities forcoping with
future disasters, which will increase in both frequency & intensity – as
per all the scientific studies. On
specific enquiry on this aspect, with the NGOs providing relief – all we could
find in terms of preparedness are advices about keeping their important papers
in a secure place, and providing a torch-light to be kept with them. The state has a Disaster Management &
Mitigation Centre, but this was found to be largely non-functional during the
actual disaster. The National Disaster Management Authority was found to be
equally in deep slumber. Even with this
bitter experience, there is hardly any move to empower the communities, and
build up disaster warning & response infrastructure. The two Doppler Radars (which could possibly
have given better & pin-pointed warnings of excessive rainfalls) sanctioned
for the state, were not installed for years, due to political turf wars. Even the limited & broad warnings given
by the Dehradoon office of the Indian Meteorological Department, didn’t move
from the other govt offices in Dehradoon, proving to be utterly useless for the
disaster hit people.
k.
Shelter - With winter approaching in 2-months, and many families without roofs over theirheads -
little is done except giving tarpaulins. Hundreds of crores of
Rupees already with govt, & thousands of crores announced for this - not
visible on the ground yet. As many existing villages have been declared unsafe
(the Geological Survey of India has identified about 400 villages as vulnerable
and needed to be shifted), the land for resettling them in a land-scarce state
is also a massive challenge. With about 62% of total geographic area of the
state under the forest department (actual forest & tree cover is only
around 47-48% of the total land area), locating suitable sites is going to be a
herculean task. Any serious initiative
to re-locate/ re-settle the large number of threatenedvillages, will have to
necessarily look into the forest department land,those without forest &tree
cover – but this needs a collective political will & commitment. Apart from this, the State govt is reportedly
estimated /looking to spend about Rs.35 crores per village for
resettlement. With all the available
allocations, and if all available resources are honestly & judiciously
spent (a very tough call in the Indian context, more so with a weak governance
structure as in Uttarakhand) – only around 50 odd villages can be taken up for
resettlement per year, on this terms & budget. That will mean nearly a decade long wait for
the last ones chosen, and there is no guarantee that more such disasters are
not coming in between.
l.
The present farming crisis & the coming ones – As all scientific studies are showing (by Potsdam
Institute for Climate Impact Research/ World Bank, by International Energy
Agency,….), these kinds of extreme climatic events will increase in future –
both in frequency and magnitude, unless the world changes course drastically,
today (and no sign of that is visible yet).
For Himalayan/ mountainous states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh etc., these extreme events are even more
dangerous, as the constraints of land, terrain and fragility of the mountain
slopes compound the challenges. In that
perspective, we must try to understand the nature of the present crisis created
by the extreme climatic events of June 2013, and devise response strategies to
help farmers cope to their best abilities.
m.
Large losses of scarce farm-lands - In the massive rains of June 15-16, mountain
slopes got saturated and large scale landslides occurred in thousands of places
in the four severely affected districts of Uttarakhand (Uttarkashi,
Rudraprayag, Chamoliand Pithoragarh) and Kinnaur district of Himachal
Pradesh. Uttarakhand has very little land in private hands, with less than 14%
of the State’s roughly 53,500 Sq. KMs being farm land. In this disaster, there
has been a massive loss of farm lands (apart from residential plots) – which
have either been washed away into the rivers, or slides have brought large
amounts of debris on them making them uncultivable. Just as an example of the
magnitude of losses, the small hamlet of Bisanpur (part of Sainj Gram Panchayat)
– with just 15 households - have lost anything between 30 to 32 ‘nali’ of land,
each ‘nali’ having a market value of Rs.1.5-2 lakh or so (more, if near the
road). Similar is the story in Aungee
village, where a few ‘lucky’ farmers have got Rs.2,500 per Nali of lost/
damaged land as compensation from the Govt (with another 2,500 promised). Many have not got even this meagre amount.
(below – large tracts of terraced farm lands – built with great labour over
years - washed away).
n.
Recovering damaged land / re-building terraces – In the mountain states, much of the cultivable
land have been prepared by building terraces on the mountain slopes. This is extremely hard work, with investment
of labour & resources. With large
scale destruction of these terraced-fields, it will be a herculean task for
farmer families to stabilize the land-slide prone slopes and re-build their
fields. The government must step in with
appropriate measures Using MGNREGA funds to attempt this as one of the measures.
o.
Damage to the standing crops – The standing crops of early maturing Potato
(called “asaade aloo’ by locals, for maturing in the month of ‘asaad’) have
been most severely damaged, and now mostly rotting in the rain-soaked
fields. As we found in Bhatwari block of
Uttarkashi district, the mid-altitude villages suffered this loss of Potato
crop to the maximum. In the higher
villages, Apple crops are also badly affected, resulting in apprehension about
both the quantity and quality of the crop, for which harvest time is
nearing. Paddy crops have been damaged
much less, except in those fields swept away or covered with landslide-muck.
p.
On top of the huge losses to standing crops, the un-certaintyabout
the incoming crops is critical – Despite the
Uttarakhand govt.’s announcement of procuring Potato, Apple etc. --
this is a major challenge for affected areas. With many roads and smaller
tracks having been washed away, how to take the crops to markets and/or extend
the period before they perish – are not clear to most. Govt announced procurement prices – Rs.12 per
Kg of Potato and Rs.27 per Kg of Apple (to be verified) are seemingly not even
covering total costs of production (as told by many farmers & other
locals).
Though the government is telling that it will
procure from the villages, the present experience of even food-rations not
reaching remote villages, do not augur well for farmers. GarhwalMandalVikas Nigam have been entrusted
with the responsibility of procurement, but with their inadequate budget and
manpower, large parts of the ready crops are in danger of being left out. The main Potato crop is due in late-September
/ early October, Apple at similar times, and Rajma in October. These are the three main cash crops in these
mountains, and for the hard-hit people, the failure to get good prices from
these will mean years of extreme hardship to come out of the present disaster.
Bringing a mule-load of 2-‘kattas’ (a ‘katta’ is a
50-Kg sack) of ‘Aloo’ or ‘Sev’ (Apple) from Bhatwari to Gangori, where these
can be loaded into trucks (road beyond Netala – 10 KMs above Uttarkashi, is not
yet opened, leaving large distance to Bhatwari, and then on to up-hill
villages), is costing anything between Rs.1200 to 1600, thus adding an
additional transport cost of Rs.12 to 16 per Kilo of produce ! The truck transportation cost and loading
labour cost are additional. Who will buy
Aloo at bulk for Rs.20 a KG or more, from the hills – to transport to main markets? Apples are the same story, though marginally
less daunting.
q.
Critical need to restore all kinds of connectivity - in an appropriate and sustainable manner. Even
main highways are in precarious conditions – dangerouslyslushy, sliding and
unstable (below – National Highway 108
as itlooked on Sept.01 near Garampani, about 6-7 KMs above Uttarkashi, with
Bhagirathi flowing below).Thecost of
restoring all the major roads, to allow buses
to ply – will be enormous,and as the locals say – one cannot expect interior roads
to be restored for years.
r.
The other
connectivity, that of telecommunication, is in a comparatively better shape, as the cell phone towers are standing
in many affected places, but the lack of power supply has denied many remote
village residents from charging their mobile phones. The provision of solar lanterns with a cell
phone charging port, has helped to some degree, but this is a solution that
needs to be taken to a larger picture and strategy. With future such events in mind, there is a
need to build parallel and stand-alone communication capacity for remote areas.
s.
Transportation/ travel costs have gone up sharply, as buses are not able to ply on ‘kutcha’ &
soft mud roads, and seeing the opportunity - jeeps are charging heavily for
short shuttles. Many places do not have
even these, so the very expensive Mule transportation is the only alternative
to carrying big loads on human backs up mountain tracks.
t.
Apart from roads, other vital infrastructure like
water & electricity supply, have been
disrupted to many areas & villages.
Many traditional water sources (called “shrote” by locals)have been destroyed.
u.
Forests/Trees
- Large tracts of forests & tens of thousands of mature trees have been
washed away, often both above and below road constructionareas (picture below).Many
villagers lost their private trees along with commons.
Repair/reconstruction
of damaged houses and tracks will needlots of wood/ mature trees, and people
have little access to ‘protected forests’.
v. A number of small but important needs - that can
improve conditions - have not been addressed much, such as carrying the produce
or even relief materialfrom villages to market & the other way. Most people cannot afford the high hiring
charges of mules, and are spending whole days carrying just their provisions on
their backs.
w.
Many schools have been affected - urgent need to restore schoolfunctioning.
Teachers of mountain village schools are often not staying in those
villages – due to reported lack of food-rations in those villages. Also – many
parents are unable to pay school/college fees, leading to stress &
deprivation. Many school buildings also
damaged. Some serving as temporary
shelter for those without homes, affecting classes. Disaster-hit families of children studying
in private schools (a phenomenon that is quite common even in road-proximate
villages) are forced to pay high fees, even though they have lost most income
sources.
x. Many
younger children are not able to go to schools – as roads have been washed away. This is even more serious for girls in hill
villages. Also, the tracks restored are
often dangerous for younger children – necessitating parents to accompany – if
at all. (below – this little girl is
unable to go to school now - thru dangerous and long forest tracks, as the
father cannot accompany her everyday - both ways).
And
these school girls (below – in Assi Ganga valley) have to walk 6-7 KMs each way
to school, as the road connection is still disrupted over 13 monthsafter the
disaster (from the August 2012 cloud-burst), stopping buses, while the heavily
over-loaded/crowded jeeps (Marshal/ Bolero/ Sumo) charge exorbitantly, putting
financial strains on an already hit population.
y.
Similar problems with old, sick, pregnant mothers – not being able to get health care /check-ups
(below – expecting mother in cut-off village, not taken for check-up since the
disaster 2 ½ months ago).
z. There is a need
to assess and monitor the relief distribution and related efforts which can
be best done by local institutions and organisations. Monitoring of actions /
R&R is also a critical area - not taken up in needed proportions.
Best done by local organizations;
aa.
Interventions in the direction of restoration/
rehabilitation work& resource allocation;
Need forcommunity participation in planning for restoration work / interventions;
(Many
of the above mentioned areas - calls for rigorous assessments)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The assessmentteam
consisted of Dr. Malathi A., Department of Social Work, University of Delhi and
MrSoumya Dutta, Convenor -Climate & Energy Group ofBeyond Copenhagen collective(BCPH)*
& National Convener of Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha (both CSO collectives). They were joined at Uttarkashi by Mr.Jayanti
Lal and Ms.Jabra Rana, both from nearby areasof Uttarakhand, who desired to
work on long term basis in the assessment & reconstruction of the villages,
though they were also new to most of the villages and the areas visited.
·
BCPH has been
working in many states including Uttarakhand, and in the last 2 ½ years –
engaged the Uttarakhand govt, civil society, R&D and academic institutions,
on the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC), and the critical need for
adaptation – including disaster preparedness.
==============================================================================
An appeal to all of you – let us join forces
to respond to this (and future such) climatic disasters, in the Himalayas and
elsewhere in India.
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