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 …
In a last-ditch bid to save their dying crops, farmers of drought affected Namunda village in Haryana breached the Delhi-Rewari canal recently. They resorted to this extreme step to irrigate their paddy crop which had shrivelled due to the delayed monsoon. To prevent such untoward incidents, the Punjab police have …
the monsoon is late by a little more than a fortnight. And the alarm bells are already ringing furiously across the country. State governments, lulled into a false sense of security by the meteorological department's forecast of
tiny pollutant particles, known as sulphate aerosols, emitted by power stations and industries from the us and Europe have played an important role in causing catastrophic droughts in the Sahel region of Africa. These were the findings of a research conducted by Australia-based Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (csiro), …
Despite taking the initiative to propagate rainwater harvesting (rwh) as a household concept, Chennai has surprisingly been losing its capacity to hold water over the years. This incongruity could be attributed to the message not percolating down convincingly enough to the city's domestic consumers (a survey suggests that though 48 …
Bamboo flowering is considered a bad omen in several northeastern states of India, especially when accompanied by an increase in rodent population. It is believed to lead to famines and natural calamities. The next bamboo flowering is expected around year 2003-04. Should we prepare ourselves? On October 29, 1958 the …
Africa is reeling under a double whammy. As if the erratic weather pattern that has led to a widespread famine was not enough, corruption and mismanagement has compounded the people's misery. Two seasons of crops have been devastated, first by flood and then by drought. The continent is grappling with …
Taiwan's biggest security threat has brought it relief from a severe drought. For the first time in 50 years, a ship delivered 2,300 metric tonnes of water from China to a tiny Matsu island in Taiwan. The Chinese and Taiwanese officials attended the vessel's flagging off ceremony. To facilitate the …
We are not starting from scratch. Our institutions have been substantially weakened. But they still exist,' says Hedayat Amin-Arsala, minister of finance of Afghanistan Interim Authority. Hidayat's statement has more meaning now when the interim government is struggling hard to convene the Loya Jirga and to chart out his country's …
life ravaged by war and drought has one hope: resilience of a people. "A good monsoon and a bit of peace will bring Afghan's life to normal,' says J Gabriel Campbell of icimod. Take Kohistan district of Kapisa province for example. Just after usa bombarded and damaged water channels in …
After 20 years If the bombs didn't kill, the land will. Afghanistan's natural resources are all but dead survival is an impossible dream in Afghanistan. Last December, as Afghans looked up to the deceptively beautiful sky for rain, bombs rained from endless streams of b-52 bombers
Taiwan is facing its worst drought in two decades. To combat it, the authorities are considering rationing water island-wide. Water rationing has already begun in several cities and counties, where the opening of swimming pools has been delayed and irrigation has been suspended. The Central Weather Bureau's forecast centre said …
RIGHT now, it is politically correct to talk of water conservation. Yet ground realities have a different story to tell if one were to go by the spate of reports on water riots pouring in from across the country. It's a parched summer once again and water is suddenly precious. …
Thousands of children under five years of age are suffering from malnourishment after a drought devastated subsistence crops in Guatemala. This was recently revealed by Deborah Hines, un World Food Programme (wfp) senior regional programme advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean. The wfp has delivered several thousand tonnes of …
In view of the drought-triggered energy crisis, the government has proposed sweeping reforms that would increase state regulation in the power industry. Earlier, the government had tried to sell off state power generators and liberalise rates to attract private investment. Investments of roughly us $9.62 billion are required to increase …
jammu and Kashmir is reeling under a drought-like situation that has wrought havoc with crop yields in the Valley. While it had taken its toll on paddy earlier, the dry spell has led to the failure of saffron crop now. The state's farmers have suffered heavy losses with almost 60 …
Two home truths about irrigation departments across India: they are a fountainhead of corruption and run on huge losses. But July 2002 may prove to be a watershed for rural water supply management. Around that time, the Maharashtra government will hand over control of irrigation facilities to the state's farmers
This paper critically examines some narratives of water scarcity in Kutch, western India. It argues that images of dwindling rainfall and increasing drought largely serve to legitimize the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam and manufacture dominant perceptions concerning scarcity. This manufacture has naturalized scarcity in the region and largely benefits powerful …
This year Orissa suffered one of its worst droughts as well. The drought gripped more than two-thirds of the state's districts. After the great famine of 1866, it was for the first time that drought of such a magnitude hit Orissa. It affected the lives of 11 mil-lion people. After …
For more than a decade now, Orissa has been reeling under contrasting extreme weather conditions: from heat waves to cyclones; from droughts to floods. Calamities have been visiting the state with alarming regularity. Out of the last 100 years, the state has been dis-aster- affected for 90 years: floods have …
