The unprecedented Chennai rains have wreaked havoc on my beloved city. Here, where I am, all the way around the globe I was originally unaware of the kind of intensity of rains that have been lashing down on Chennai city for the past one month. I make usual ritualistic calls to family in Chennai every morning and I realize right now that almost everyday my mother had sounded her frustration about it. " Haiooo Thiruppiyum mazhai" is what she would say. Having lived for 26 years, I know that even small rains can nearly paralyze parts of the city. For many years, slum dwellers have put up with this chronic problem.
I remember , I used to use the school bus to travel to and fro my T Nagar to KK Nagar when I was in primary school. I remember being stuck on congested roads for hours together when it rained. My father would drive his scooter through the school bus route looking for us. In 2005, the Adyar and Saidapet river swelled and the catchment lakes opened leading to flooding in KK Nagar area and adjoining places. Thankfully, at that time the damage was less serious. But I remember, a friends house being infested with mice and various rodents when they got back. The rodents never left!
For the first time, the rains that impounded have made a virtual island of all parts of the city. I am seeing visuals of Sinagra chennai mainly on Facebook and am alarmed at the extent of the damage. I cannot help but wonder what went wrong. Here are some of my thoughts.
1. Global warmimg.
Yes. Global warming is very much a cause for catastrophes like this. I have also read that tropical climates are more prone to reacting to minuscule changes to the planets ecosystem and thermosphere. Therefore while global warming has certainly become an alarming reality for "us" chennaites who are int he tropical belt, it will soon become an imminent danger for the people outside of it. I argued with myself about how USA is able to predict its microclimate weather with such amazing accuracy, while we are not able to foresee a catastrophic torrential downpour. My elementary research leads to me understand that tropical cyclones such as the one that TN witnessed recently are prone to be unpredictable and current models are limited on accuracy. Global warming adds to this unpredictability, in general.
The solution: Global warming is a problem that transcends boundaries. As a trendsetter, we must ensure we eco-friendly community behavior. Avoid plastic, segregate trash, recycle and reuse. Chennai being a sunny city for most part the year, we must explore the option of using solar panels and solar energy for buildings. Design buildings that are sunlight efficient and reduce dependence on electric lighting. Considering the large amount of organic waste that is generated, we could try using bio-electricity for certain purposes.
2. Unplanned development
Years of unscrupulous developmental activity have removed native flora, fauna and most importantly diminished water absorbing soil cover. I am also reading reports of lake dredging and filling in order to make land for construction of buildings. We should put an end to this immediately. This part requires a lot of dedicated involvement by the government. I have absolutely no faith in the government and I believe that years of mismanagement by govt officers for personal monetary gain have the left the city in the throes of floods. It is solely the responsibility of the government to ensure uniformity of development and accessibility of resources to every part of the state, so that no one area or city is marginalized. This will ensure not only even population distribution, but will also reduce impact on human and material resources when disaster strikes.
The solution: Awareness campaign on Chennai city's natural resources. Open and intensive engagement with the government authorities can only solve the problem.
3. Improper disaster preparedness/response:
One cannot stop natural calamities from occurring altogether nor can me make a zero risk zone of living for us. In the case of Chennai rains, it has taken atleast a couple of days before the Govt realized that what was happening was a large scale disaster. I have no idea what the govt was thinking. I could see very clearly that Govt authorities had taken no lessons from kashmir or Mumbai floods and have been very lethargic and complacent in dealing with this tragedy. I understand that Chennai has never been victim of large scale rains or flooding of this sort, but the situation was well calamitous enough to warrant swift action from the govt.
Many eminent Chennai personalities have shouldered the massive relief and rescue work and have done what the govt ought to have done. With them thousands of young volunteers joined hands to save the city from drowning. This is truly a model example for our wired world. Facebook and twitter were used to send SOS messages and moderate flow of relief and rescue material. The entire operation was transparent. There was very little chance of misuse of relief and rescue material and such instances were reported real-time on Facebook. This kind of community involvement is ideal for providing help to calamity-stricken people. I have only words of praise for my Chennai vasis!
As an addition, every locality should have a well established communication center and also a food and fodder reserve. This idea is not uncommon at all. Ancient south indian temples used to maintain huge reserves of grain and fodder to help the community during a disaster. Again, in order to do this effectively a highly competent administrative machinery in required. This to me looks like a distant dream.Chennai's governing authorities have beyond doubt demonstrated their ineptness and callousness in the management of this disaster. Only the rise of a self-governing civic society will save Chennai from throngs of both gradual degradation and sudden decimation.
Will the fabric of Chennai stay connected and knit the way it was during the floods or will it go back to its original nonchalance?
I remember , I used to use the school bus to travel to and fro my T Nagar to KK Nagar when I was in primary school. I remember being stuck on congested roads for hours together when it rained. My father would drive his scooter through the school bus route looking for us. In 2005, the Adyar and Saidapet river swelled and the catchment lakes opened leading to flooding in KK Nagar area and adjoining places. Thankfully, at that time the damage was less serious. But I remember, a friends house being infested with mice and various rodents when they got back. The rodents never left!
For the first time, the rains that impounded have made a virtual island of all parts of the city. I am seeing visuals of Sinagra chennai mainly on Facebook and am alarmed at the extent of the damage. I cannot help but wonder what went wrong. Here are some of my thoughts.
1. Global warmimg.
Yes. Global warming is very much a cause for catastrophes like this. I have also read that tropical climates are more prone to reacting to minuscule changes to the planets ecosystem and thermosphere. Therefore while global warming has certainly become an alarming reality for "us" chennaites who are int he tropical belt, it will soon become an imminent danger for the people outside of it. I argued with myself about how USA is able to predict its microclimate weather with such amazing accuracy, while we are not able to foresee a catastrophic torrential downpour. My elementary research leads to me understand that tropical cyclones such as the one that TN witnessed recently are prone to be unpredictable and current models are limited on accuracy. Global warming adds to this unpredictability, in general.
The solution: Global warming is a problem that transcends boundaries. As a trendsetter, we must ensure we eco-friendly community behavior. Avoid plastic, segregate trash, recycle and reuse. Chennai being a sunny city for most part the year, we must explore the option of using solar panels and solar energy for buildings. Design buildings that are sunlight efficient and reduce dependence on electric lighting. Considering the large amount of organic waste that is generated, we could try using bio-electricity for certain purposes.
2. Unplanned development
Years of unscrupulous developmental activity have removed native flora, fauna and most importantly diminished water absorbing soil cover. I am also reading reports of lake dredging and filling in order to make land for construction of buildings. We should put an end to this immediately. This part requires a lot of dedicated involvement by the government. I have absolutely no faith in the government and I believe that years of mismanagement by govt officers for personal monetary gain have the left the city in the throes of floods. It is solely the responsibility of the government to ensure uniformity of development and accessibility of resources to every part of the state, so that no one area or city is marginalized. This will ensure not only even population distribution, but will also reduce impact on human and material resources when disaster strikes.
The solution: Awareness campaign on Chennai city's natural resources. Open and intensive engagement with the government authorities can only solve the problem.
3. Improper disaster preparedness/response:
One cannot stop natural calamities from occurring altogether nor can me make a zero risk zone of living for us. In the case of Chennai rains, it has taken atleast a couple of days before the Govt realized that what was happening was a large scale disaster. I have no idea what the govt was thinking. I could see very clearly that Govt authorities had taken no lessons from kashmir or Mumbai floods and have been very lethargic and complacent in dealing with this tragedy. I understand that Chennai has never been victim of large scale rains or flooding of this sort, but the situation was well calamitous enough to warrant swift action from the govt.
Many eminent Chennai personalities have shouldered the massive relief and rescue work and have done what the govt ought to have done. With them thousands of young volunteers joined hands to save the city from drowning. This is truly a model example for our wired world. Facebook and twitter were used to send SOS messages and moderate flow of relief and rescue material. The entire operation was transparent. There was very little chance of misuse of relief and rescue material and such instances were reported real-time on Facebook. This kind of community involvement is ideal for providing help to calamity-stricken people. I have only words of praise for my Chennai vasis!
As an addition, every locality should have a well established communication center and also a food and fodder reserve. This idea is not uncommon at all. Ancient south indian temples used to maintain huge reserves of grain and fodder to help the community during a disaster. Again, in order to do this effectively a highly competent administrative machinery in required. This to me looks like a distant dream.Chennai's governing authorities have beyond doubt demonstrated their ineptness and callousness in the management of this disaster. Only the rise of a self-governing civic society will save Chennai from throngs of both gradual degradation and sudden decimation.
Will the fabric of Chennai stay connected and knit the way it was during the floods or will it go back to its original nonchalance?
2 comments:
hey hi hello...naa thaan... blog ellam podra !!! kalskara chandrooo!!! thirumbi vandhutten sollu!
Aiyyyaayooo..Didnt know somebody was reading this..! :P
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