It seems that rain and floods are no longer a local crisis. As we see that the world is gripped by the same issue of inundation. This now seems to be more of a ‘Glocal’ issue than local! Down under in Australia the newly-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is caught in the middle of public anger and memes. The situation arose when he chose to be not in the country as Sydney gets hit by waves after waves of severe flash floods and inundation. Notably, the situation in entire North-South Wales (NSW) is alarming with more than 50,000 people asked to evacuate. Coming back to India, the all-important Amarnath Yatra for Hindu devotees, was halted on Tuesday due to heavy rains in Pahalgam and along the Yatra track. The overnight spell of rain in many parts of the Kashmir valley has left the Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road blocked due to a landslide. On the other hand, in the Manipur landslide tragedy, the death toll increased to 48. The highlight of this landslide is that the debris has blocked the Ijei river, causing the water to rise on one side and creating dam-like storage of water, which is quite alarming.
Back home in Assam, the floods have claimed more than 180 lives as reported by a majority of media. Besides, over 2 million people have been directly affected by the floods and are facing an extreme shortage of essential commodities for life. Interestingly, in a bizarre turn of events, Assam police arrested two persons for allegedly meddling with the Barak River embankment. Now, this has become a hot cake for the media, and given the half-baked and impulsive reporting, many have started giving it a ‘vested interest’ angle. What is funny, is the fact that local media in Assam, ardently believes that two people can, irrespective of whichever community they belong to, can cause the mighty Brahmaputra to function as per their ‘vested interests!’ Well, jokes apart, dealing with a natural calamity is not easy or creating one, for the same matter. The Indian Army, NDRF, Government of Assam and India, locals, NGOs, and many other organisations have joined hands in coming out of this crisis. It is high time that the media too comes to its senses and works for the society for a change, rather than running after TRPs. For, this is the time to stand together as we calm Mother Nature down and become climate-conscious about our endeavours.
The official machinery which is often blamed for corruption and incompetence, however, stays put on ground zero and keeps the confidence of the people from completely giving up. In such situations, there are many moments of nervousness. In flood-prone areas when water levels cross the danger marks, some remote villagers breaking the embankment on the other side so that their village is spared the floods is a story often heard. For the city folks, a flood is a different experience though! Amarnath Yatra, Assam floods, and Manipur landslides are some of the big events right now that are keeping Indian disaster management experts on the edge. But we must also remember that each one of us must contribute in our way to fare well through this natural crisis, for only #togetherwecan.
