Cenkāntal
Ecology in Disaster Management Mr. Edward Fernandez
E
cology focuses on the interaction of living and non-living objects. This requires a nuanced understanding of the connections between all manner of things, from human behaviour to seasons to the availability of nutrients. I will examine the responses to two natural disasters to identify lessons for improved environmental management.
to ensure reliable hydroelectricity generation. Authorities were apparently unaware of the likelihood that dams would reach capacity and, it seems, did not consider their responsibility to actively limit risks of downstream flooding. Once the large rains arrived in August 2018, the shutters of 35 dams had to be opened due to the risk of dams overflowing.
In August 2018, the Indian state of Kerala experienced much more rain than normal filling all the state’s reservoirs and causing the strongest floods recorded since 1924. The floods killed more than 480 people, destroyed homes and entire towns, and displaced over 1 million people. In July 2019 a record-breaking season of bushfires began for the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). These fires destroyed 2,476 homes, burned 5.5 hectares and resulted in 26 deaths. While these were two separate issues with their own distinct causes, some commonalities exist. Both floods and bushfires are recurring hazards that have shaped our environments for millennia - Kerala has annual monsoon seasons, and NSW has an annual bushfire season. Yet our authorities seem ill-equipped to minimise the harms they create. Multiple factors contributed to the 2018 Kerala floods: ● Kerala monsoon rainfall showed a trend of decline. In the decade leading to 2018, only two years experienced greater monsoon rainfall than the previous year. Hence the large rainfall in 2018 was unexpected. ● Dam management authorities were primarily focused on keeping dams as full as possible
● The Central Water Commission, the federal institution responsible for water management, had no agreement with Kerala state dam authorities to provide alerts of imminent flooding.
The primary cause of flooding remains disputed a Kerala High Court report identified the inability of dam management authorities to actively manage dam levels in anticipation of monsoon rainfall. However, the Central Water Commission and several other research groups claim that the large August rainfall directly caused the flooding.
In some cases, landline and mobile phone networks failed, rendering it impossible to coordinate local emergency responses. Kerala’s community strongly mobilised in response to the disaster. Using Twitter and other platforms, everyday citizens gathered funds and donated household products for disaster relief. This was a very effective self-organised system
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