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 …
The people of this small village of Bhil tribals in Dahod district had been facing a serious water crisis. About 78 per cent of them used to migrate for at least 10 months. There were no wells in the village. The farmlands were of no use; there was no water. …
About 20 km away from the district headquarters of Rajkot, this village shows how environmental management can bring about a socio-economic turnaround. According to Narayanbhai Limbasia, a 70-year-old farmer: "Around 15 years ago, people were unwilling to marry their daughters to grooms in this village due to the water crisis." …
The credit for the socio-economic turnaround of Raj-Samadhiyala village in Rajkot district of Gujarat goes to Hardevsinh Balwantsinh Jadeja, the 48-year-old head ( sarpanch ) of the village council. He thinks that rainwater harvesting is the only solution to deal with the grave water crisis in the Saurashtra region of …
This village in Mandvi taluka of Gujarat's Kachchh district has embarked on rainwater harvesting and wm quite recently. For the past 10-12 years, the residents have been facing a drinking water crisis. "Even officials of the Geological Survey of India failed to get water from a borewell a few years …
In the past six years, the 3,500-odd residents of this village in Rajkot district, which falls in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, have come a long way. After a prolonged water crisis, the village is well on its way to solve the problem through recharging of wells. Shamjibhai Antala of …
A micro-watershed management project was launched under the Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Development in this village of Jhabua district in 1996. Since then, a lot has changed. The underground aquifers have been recharged and all the eight handpumps in the village yield water throughout the year, says Bhurji Bhawar …
Some really serious issues face Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh today, and the present drought has highlighted them. "Water-related disputes are gradually increasing in rural areas. They are expected to surpass land disputes in the next 10 years," Rajora fears. And it is quite clear that the government cannot supply water …
The government of Gujarat has launched a project worth Rs 70 crore to dig 120 bores in the Wankaner taluka of Rajkot district to supply drinking water to Rajkot city. At present, the city is supplied water for 20 miniutes every two days. According to P V Trivedi, district magistrate …
Water harvesting systems have certainly benefited a large section of society in the Saurashtra and Kachchh regions. There is no way better than such systems to optimally tap water resources," says R C Trivedi, former chairperson of Gujarat Pollution Control Board, who lives in Ahmedabad. Manibhai Padmabhai Patel of Dhoraji …
The story echoes the fable of the industrious ant that stocks foodstuff for winter and the lazy grasshopper that is left without food. Women and children dig the dry bed of the Sukhi river near Dahod town of Gujarat. Sitting aside one-metre-deep holes, they wait for life to seep into …
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in a recently-released report says that some 1.6 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are facing starvation due to drought and long-running civil conflict. In Somalia, the report says, "the effect of the drought was compounded by civil strife.' The 15 countries facing …
The coffee output in Brazil has been below 30 million 60-kg bags because of the severe drought. However, officials said that it is very early to fully quantify the loss. "Whatever we are seeing in the coffee harvest in Brazil is very serious. We have calculated that 65 per cent …
parts of Rajasthan are in the grip of a severe drought and the situation may worsen further. Over 2.5 crore people and 3.5 crore animals have already been affected. According to a report prepared by the government of Rajasthan: "Bunds and tanks are almost empty. The groundwater level has gone …
several political parties have demanded that south Haryana should be declared "drought-hit' and have asked for adequate compensation to the affected farmers for the loss incurred due to water shortage. They have even threatened to intensify their agitation. According to reports, standing crops in Rohtak, Sonepat, Rewari, Jhajjar, Gurgaon and …
a drought in the Kashmir valley has caught the government unawares. Usually susceptible to floods, the catastrophic management of this area has always focussed on floods. According to the state agriculture department, out of a total 165,000 hectares (ha) under paddy cultivation in the valley, 60,000 ha have been affected …
Coffee plantation owners in Brazil heaved a sigh of relief after the much-awaited spring showers lashed the parched country. The showers came after days of prolonged drought, which had hit the country's coffee belt and was threatening to cause heavy losses in the coming season, said Cooxupe, a leading cooperative …
The United Nations Children's Fund (unicef), in a drive against polio in Pakistan, will provide a high potency vitamin for children under five years. The aim of the programme is to eliminate one aspect of "hidden hunger' in the country, within a year. The initial policy decision was taken in …
THE drought which hit the us recently may extend to the next year, John Kelly, director, National Weather Service has said. Dan Glickman, agriculture secretary, has declared Connecticut "a farm disaster area' and has issued similar declarations for 19 counties in Maryland, six additional counties in Virginia and one in …
The wildebeest population at Serengeti National Park, has not recovered from a drought that killed 25 per cent of the herd five years ago. Scientists, monitoring the population dynamics of the migratory wildebeest in Serengeti, northern Tanzania, say recent data confirm that the population of the animals, had stabilised at …
from Virginia to Massachusetts, extending even as far west as Ohio, exceptionally dry weather conditions threaten eastern United States with drought. The National Weather Service has blamed the stagnant high-pressure system over the south-eastern part of the country for the lack of rain this summer. Conditions were no better last …
