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 …
For a large part of the year anybody who was anybody in India talked about match fixing in cricket. When Parliament was in session there was a hue and cry over the Ayodhya issue but hardly a whisper in the corridors of power over drought. Ayodhya and match fixing became …
last year's drought in western Rajasthan had its beginnings in September and October when there was erratic and deficient rainfall, not uncommon to these parts of the country. Over Rs 800 crore was spent to counter the calamity. Since 1955, Rs 3,600 crore has been spent under Desert Development Programme …
for the people of Mandsaur, Dewas and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh drought has been a daily scourge that they learnt to live with. They would wait endlessly for water trains, lock barrels of water to prevent theft and protest sporadically against the scarcity. The recent drought, however, has made …
This publication documents traditions, practices technologies and policies of water harvesting in the country. It also assesses state government efforts to deal with drought. The book has a clear message for the thirsty times ahead: Water must be made everybody's business.
Over three million people are suffering from a severe food crisis in Afghanistan. With a sheer drop in the purchasing power, a Food and Agricultural Organisation report stated that the drought has critically affected crop production and livestock population. The report added that the country's total cereal production in 2000 …
The Yellow River of China may soon dry up. The reasons behind this are drought, deforestation and mismanagement of water waste. "The situation has worsened significantly since the beginning of the 1980s,' says Cao Mingming, professor of environmental geography at Xibei University located in Xian city. Mingming believes that exploitative …
orissa has again suffered another set back. Vast areas of western Orissa, particularly Kalahandi, Bolangir, Nuapada, Sonepur, Jharsuguda and Bargarh districts are reeling under drought conditions. The crop damage has been more than 50 per cent in over 26,700 villages of these districts. The state government has asked the Union …
The food situation in drought-hit Kenya is a cause for serious concern. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation ( fao ), there has been a sharp increase in deaths due to starvation, especially among children. Most of the areas have received little or no rainfall, leading to …
the imambara of Nawab Asif-ud-daula at Lucknow ranks among the greatest architectural achievements of the Muslim period. It is a sacred building in which
romania's economic stability is being threatened by a severe drought that has destroyed a majority of the country's agricultural produce. Forestry and agriculture make up 14 per cent of the country's gross domestic product. According to Paul Bondarev, director general of snif, the national reclamation council responsible for the country's …
a reconstruction of climate using lake sediments suggests that African climate in previous centuries was much lethal than in the last 30 years. "Those centuries saw huge swings in African rainfall. The fluctuations seem to be tied to variations in the radiative output of the Sun,' says Dirk Verschuren of …
With the spate of political support that the concept of rainwater harvesting has received in recent weeks from Central ministers and state chief ministers, the attack from pro-dam lobbies had to come. The government of Gujarat appears to be especially miffed as it had probably hoped that this drought would …
AS FAR AS the eye can see, it is a mass of horns in a desiccated, semi-arid landscape. The horns emerge sideways from the head, turn up, and then arch back at the tips, as if swept back by the wind. Kankrej, native to northern Gujarat, is quite a regal-looking …
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan's Chief Executive General Parvez Musharraf had, among their various other duties, one common task
The slump in rainfall, as experienced in most parts of South Africa, will result in a severe spell of prolonged drought, according to a warning issued by the Kenya Meteorological Department ( kmd ). They have predicted that the severity of this drought, which commenced last year, will be worse …
With an eye on the drought situation that has gripped India, the United Nations (UN)have issued a warning that drought in Pakistan and Afghanistan could threaten millions of people andlivestock. "We do have a very critical situation,' said Onder Yucer, the UN's resident coordinator for Pakistan. Yucer had earlier approached …
the World Bank has held the central government responsible for the severe water crisis experienced in different parts of the country. It said that the drought situation was a direct result of the lack of effective water management and planning by the government. "The present institutional arrangements in India do …
it was a meeting with an amazing lesson. The subject was rainwater harvesting. But the message was one on governance. And a truly stark one. If only India could learn from it. Since the release of its book Dying Wisdom: The Rise, Fall and Potential of Traditional Rainwater Harvesting Systems …
