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Uttarakhand disaster: Catastrophe triggers nature vs development debate
By:-Devang Sharma Y. Std.:-9th Div:-C Sakar English School
LUCKNOW: Uttarakhand disaster has again triggered an environment versus development debate. This brings forth two conflicting viewpoints. One that nature is used by people to serve humanity and support civilisation. Second, as per conservationists, nature is threatened by humanity, and thus they strongly argue to fence it off from the influence of humanity as far as possible.
This debate, sadly, comes to the fore only when relief and rescue measures are needed to be taken on a war-footing after a diaster like we are witnessing in the hill state. The impact of the calamity is yet difficult to comprehend. Although the official death toll at present in 600-plus, it is feared that it eventually would be in thousands. The flash floods have swept away several villages, which still remain away from media attention. A week after the cloudburst that was followed by torrential rains on June 16 and 17, thousands still remain stranded in various parts.
Natural calamities are common in Uttarakhand, which lies in the fragile mountain belt of the Himalayas and has experienced tectonic turmoil several times in the past. Since the last quarter of 20th century, there has been an increase in the frequency of natural disasters in this region. Major disasters in the recent past include earthquakes of 1991 and 1999 in Uttarkashi and Chamoli respectively, landslides at Okhimath and Malpa in 1998 and cloudbursts and flash floods at Khetgaon and Budakedar during monsoon in 2002.
Aniruddha Uniyal, a senior geo-scientist at UP Remote Sensing Application Centre, Lucknow, says the disasters are getting frequent due to sudden increase in anthropogenic activities like unplanned cutting of slope, blasting of highly jointed rock mass for road construction and unplanned disposal of the slope cut debris. All these have further added to the fragility of the
By:-Devang Sharma Y. Std.:-9th Div:-C Sakar English School
LUCKNOW: Uttarakhand disaster has again triggered an environment versus development debate. This brings forth two conflicting viewpoints. One that nature is used by people to serve humanity and support civilisation. Second, as per conservationists, nature is threatened by humanity, and thus they strongly argue to fence it off from the influence of humanity as far as possible.
This debate, sadly, comes to the fore only when relief and rescue measures are needed to be taken on a war-footing after a diaster like we are witnessing in the hill state. The impact of the calamity is yet difficult to comprehend. Although the official death toll at present in 600-plus, it is feared that it eventually would be in thousands. The flash floods have swept away several villages, which still remain away from media attention. A week after the cloudburst that was followed by torrential rains on June 16 and 17, thousands still remain stranded in various parts.
Natural calamities are common in Uttarakhand, which lies in the fragile mountain belt of the Himalayas and has experienced tectonic turmoil several times in the past. Since the last quarter of 20th century, there has been an increase in the frequency of natural disasters in this region. Major disasters in the recent past include earthquakes of 1991 and 1999 in Uttarkashi and Chamoli respectively, landslides at Okhimath and Malpa in 1998 and cloudbursts and flash floods at Khetgaon and Budakedar during monsoon in 2002.
Aniruddha Uniyal, a senior geo-scientist at UP Remote Sensing Application Centre, Lucknow, says the disasters are getting frequent due to sudden increase in anthropogenic activities like unplanned cutting of slope, blasting of highly jointed rock mass for road construction and unplanned disposal of the slope cut debris. All these have further added to the fragility of the