The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
Two people died and 40 others were injured during one of Pakistan's worst riots over water on June 10, 2001. The incident took place during a rally organised by a political party called Jiye Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (jsqm) and the Jeay Sindh Students Federation against the severe water shortage in …
desert dust blown from one part of the world to another can choke rain clouds, cutting rainfall hundreds of kilometres away. This discovery, made with the help of us National Aeronautical and Space Administration ( nasa) satellites, suggests that droughts over arid regions, such as central Africa, are made worse …
Facing its worst drought in 90 years, South Korea has mobilised a fifth of its military force to help combat the situation. At least 130,000 troops were sent to 90 worst-hit regions armed with drilling machines, trucks, excavators and pumping motors, to dig wells or draw water from reservoirs. "It …
The 2000 monsoon didn’t keep its date with Dulaiben, 60, resident of Thoridi village in Amreli district of Gujarat. Her eyes stare down the road in the hope of the water tanker that brings 5,000 litres of water for the 600 residents once every week. Her two sons migrated to …
The Employment Guarantee Scheme ( egs ) of Maharash tra is said to be the only one in the world that guaran tees employment on demand. This was for the first time an employment generation programme was conceived to create productive works at the village level. The absence of social …
During the 1999-2000 drought, Down To Earth ( dte ) reported that five villages in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had enough water during the drought because of the water conservation activities they had undertaken. dte revisited these villages, reeling under the second successive drought. Unlike last year, some of these …
An analysis of the government's failure at drought relief shows some clear loopholes that are not very difficult to plug for a government that is worried about its political future. The most important thing is to plan decentralised, village-level institutions to both manage drought relief and come up with strategic …
The biggest hurdle in providing the much-needed drought relief is corruption in the government machi nery. Rajasthan has spent almost Rs 6,500 crore on drought relief works like employment generation, fodder distribution and drinking water facilities in the past 45 years. Another Rs 628 crore has been spent in the …
As Pakistan reels under a severe drought, water scarcity has become a common problem. In Sindh province several protests have been held against the water crisis. "In a country where public demonstrations are banned, many people, including women, are agitating against the government for the water problems,' says Tanveer Arif …
Titanic sank not because it hit the iceberg, the reason for its sinking lies in its inability to take a turn on time'. These words are aptly used by Mahesh Bhat, the noted filmmaker, to describe the apathy of the government through his documentary Bearing the Brunt. The documentary was …
Human life has never been valued very high by politicians. They don't act till a crisis becomes a catastrophe. Tharparkar, the desert area of Sindh province in Pakistan has entered the fourth year of continuous drought. During this dry spell 1.3 million population and five million livestock have been affected. …
Last year the police fired upon people protesting against government inaction in dealing with the water crisis in Falla village of Jamnagar district. This fortnight, the story repeated itself in Rajkot. Eight people were injured when police intervened to stop protesters from immolating themselves. A people's action group called Deshpremi …
Situated in the heart of the once proud and prosperous Malwa Plateau, the rapidly growing city of Indore, buffetted by the waters of the Narmada, is today facing an acute water crisis. The municipality cannot supply enough water and the groundwater table is falling, and whatever there is of groundwater …
the skeletonised frame of 68-year-old Manglu Bhoi doesn't shiver with the chilly spring breeze on a bright February morning, but with the thought that he has to walk for two kilometres to fetch a bucket of water. A resident of India's poorest district, Balangir, he is one of the million …
These systems were evolved keeping in mind the unique topography of the region. Earlier, kings used to give agricultural lands to those maintaining tanks as incentives. Today, most of these structures are in a dilapidated condition, and in some cases have simply vanished. bandh: A traditional pond that is usually …
Melchhamunda is an oasis in the parched western Orissa. The village in the Bargarh district is fighting the drought with its 400-year-old pond that still contains water. The village depends on agriculture for survival and is only source of irrigation is the around 10-hectare Kata. As Deepak Bhoi, a resident …
• Community structures transferred to government after Independence. Community lost their rights l Attention shifted to modern irrigation projects often not suitable to the local topography. l Rich farmers converted tanks into agriculture lands earlier shared by the community for irrigation l Deforestation led to siltation in the catchments areas …
after three years of drought and the government's indifferent attitude, villagers in Rajasthan are gearing up to combat the situation through intensive water conservation. Two meetings were recently held under the aegis of Alwar-based Tarun Bharat Sangh (tbs), a non-governmental organisation. On December 23, 2000 at Khoili, around 400 women …
for the first time, in an unequivocal verdict, scientists have held human activities responsible for most of the warming of the Earth's atmosphere over the last 50 years. Latest assessment of scientific studies of climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) predicts that such actions will continue …
