50 people died, 45 lacs directly or indirectly affected, 95% Kaziranga National Park damaged. This was the situation last year in 2019 and this year 2020 the same situation repeated. The situation gone from bad to worse. More than 120 people till now have died in Assam Flood. This keeps repeating every year.
2012 – 124 people died
2015 – 42 people died
2016 – 28 people died
2017 – 85 people died
2018 – 12 people died
Many people died, lacs of people got affected and many animals also died in national parks. But there is no improvement
Why Assam Floods every year?
Most flood prone states in north and north-east India are affected because of Brahmaputra river which keeps changing its direction every now and then. The river is an unstable river. In the year 1950 a major earthquake in Assam changed the way Brahmaputra river flows. From 1959 – 2010, 12 major floods took place in assam. But from last couple of years the frequency of floods has seen a major rise. Every year Assam encounters a major flood. The main question is why the frequency is increasing.
Some of the main reasons behind any floods
1 – Deforestation
2 – Unplanned growth
3 – Encroachments of Floodplains
4 – Improper Drainage System
5 – Failure of embankments
6 – Climate Change
Let us discuss on two main topics Climate change and Failure of River Embankments
Climate Change – This time Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, some parts of Bihar and some parts of Uttar Pradesh are affected drastically. Because of climate change sometimes we are seeing drought and sometimes heavy rainfall. All are unpredictable. Couple of days back I wrote a blog on
Embankments – Also called as Levy or Dykes. This is that wall which is constructed on the riverbanks to help the streamlined flow of the river water and to prevent the floods in the nearby areas. Historically its been proved that this is the best way to stop and control floods. Could be made up of concrete or mud. Usually when embankments are made, the river water flows in a are narrower than it was flowing earlier to the construction of embankments. Eventually the sedimentation will also rise high. And if the sedimentation is not taken out from the embankments, the water will start flowing above the embankments which will then again go to the food plains. People in the riverbank thinks that when embankments are made, they are safe to stay in a riverbank which is wrong. The chances of floods go high if the sedimentation is not cleared. Also, they need to think that sedimentation clearing is not an easy task to carry out. Any government may or may not attempt that on a regular basis. An embankment is as useful as it is destructive at many cases. Low standard embankments are used to be to flood prone if that collapses. Also, high sedimentation would cause for the river overflow that would directly contribute to floods. There are almost 450 embankments in Assam from which more than a half are in extremely vulnerable conditions. They can break easily. Experts say that in Assam, there is a huge contractor-administration nexus that benefits monetarily from a flood situation. After every flood, the contractors build new embankments which is kind of a source of income to them. According to a report in
My View – Any river is a natural resource and man should act in accordance to that not against that. Building embankments is good but not extreme near to the riverbanks but rather at some distance to the riverbanks. The floodplains in between the embankments and the river should be utilized properly to do plantation. Netherlands is one such country to adopt such a measure. In this approach what would happen is river would get more space to flow and the sedimentation as I told earlier will also be reduced and everything will be on control. And yes the most important point is embankments should be made much more stronger to have proper and good control of the river water to help them flow with no harm to mankind.
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