Assam is Drowning | You Might Wonder it Happens Every Year
Assam is Drowning. Well, this year, it is terrible. Images have been coming in for the past week of people using makeshifts and rafts to move around. Cars are breaking down and drowning, security forces are filling boats with people, and much more.
Floods in Assam this year have affected more than 42 lakh people. It is 13% of the entire state population.
As we write this article, 139 people have died, and three have gone missing. Thirty-two of the 35 districts have been affected.
Barletta is the worst-hit district, with over 12.7 lakh people suffering. Lack of people has moved out of their base location. The people are running out of food and drinking water. Over 29 lakh domestic animals and poultry have been affected because of grazing grounds going underwater.
All this and much more happen every year. Can’t we, the Indian government, do something about it?
We need to ask some big questions about the flood in Assam that seems to be getting worse every year. Why does flooding happen? What is the government doing about it?
Let us begin.
How Did it Happen?
If we talk about geography, Assam is lower in height than other neighboring states. So, water flows from those States downwards.
Then there are neighboring hill states Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. When it rains in these states, the water flows into Assam.
So, every time the Brahmaputra or any of these rivers breaks the banks, Assam ends up having a disaster.
Climate change has some crazy effects on Assam. The land becomes hot during summer, and the wind carries water from the ocean to the earth. It is the concept that happens in Assam.
As the temperature rises, the land becomes hotter, and the wind brings in much more moisture. The volume of atmospheric liquid increases with rising temperatures. The reason is warmer air tends to hold more steam for a long.
It is not the sole reason for the current situation. The adaptability of the population to such changes is very low.
What is the Government Doing?
Every time flooding happens, the army, paramilitary forces, National Disaster Response Force, and State Disaster Response Force set up relief camps.
Currently, the district administration has 862 relief camps, where more than 2.6 lacs of people take shelter. Governments have also built banks along the river Brahmaputra to control the flow. However, over time these banks have become useless. Most of these are vulnerable and have crossed their life span of 25 years.
Environmentalists point out that the long-term solution is to look at the situation as a whole. The Brahmaputra flows through China, Bhutan, India, and Bangladesh.
There should be international efforts by these four countries. We must figure out how to control the river during monsoons. In 2017, the Brahmaputra river symposium was held in New Delhi to discuss this issue.
The hope is that these countries will forget political complexities and work together to work on a plan because the number of affected districts in the state is rising.
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