Veroli Zhimo
In the past weeks days the skies have opened up and unleashed intense weather events in several parts of the Indian subcontinent. Landslides and flash floods have claimed more than 150 lives and left a trail of destruction in Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and parts of Karnataka and Goa is reportedly experiencing its worst floods since 1982.
Such chaotic behaviour of the elements is increasingly becoming characteristic of the Indian monsoon; something that climate activists and scientists believe is influenced by anthropogenic action. However, the country’s weather forecasters, planners and policymakers are yet to come to terms with the challenge posed by climate change.
After a long spell of dry weather, Nagaland has also seen interspersed bouts of intense downpour, much to the relief of the state’s farmers. However, with their drainage systems remaining clogged at several points, the recent rains underscored that towns like Dimapur are ill-equipped to tackle such torrential rains as several low lying areas in the town witnessed large scale water logging. Landslides have also been reported in the ecologically fragile rural areas of the state—take for example the recent landslide in Tobu subdivision of Mon district that cut off the transport lifeline for nine villages.
No casualties have been reported in the incident. Nonetheless, the true impact of landslides does not stop with casualties. Unlike other natural disasters such as lightning, the effects of landslides can last for years and range from deforestation, displacement, damage to property, fields, roads and water supply, and have a cascading effect on the local economy.
In 2019, the National Institute of Disaster Management’s Landslide Management Strategy flagged some concerns in the Himalayan region and the Western Ghats, stating that most of these calamities are caused by ill-informed urbanisation efforts like road widening and construction booms that are often taken up without understanding key principles of hydrology. It said that “ill-conceived planning, unplanned development” were some of the key anomalies that were causing slope instability.
Several development studies scholars have also been writing about these problems but the political costs of changing the dominant development paradigm in ecologically fragile regions are often high. However, it must be understood that building resilience of communities against climate vagaries is of utmost importance especially for Nagaland which is prone to landslides.
Channels of communication between experts, conservationists, the political class and civil society at large should be established to ensure disaster resilient development in Nagaland which lies in seismic zone V and hence, falls under a very high damage risk zone. A step forward would be to set up and put in practice a long-term safety plan involving stakeholders from various departments and researchers.
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