Natural calamities

 

Forest fire

The glowing garlands of fire lighting up the distant hill side are a scintillating sight to behold. But it comes at a heavy price: Irreversible damage to the forest and its inhabitants. Countless ground fauna — including monitor lizards, mongoose, snakes and frogs — are reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.

Entire generations of birds that nest on the ground are lost forever. Only a few can escape the raging inferno. We lose millions of seedlings and seeds, along with medicinal plants, shrubs, creepers and trees that take decades to grow.

                                               URBAN FLOODING

The term urban flood is a misnomer. The problem of flooding in urban areas is not only due to overflowing rivers, but the uninformed way in which our cities are coping with urbanisation also plays a large role.

Overburdened drainage, frenzied and unregulated construction, buildings constructed without paying any heed to the natural topography and hydro-geomorphology all adds to the damage. This makes urban floods easily more of a man-made disaster.

                                                   HEATWAVE

It is time heatwaves are considered a natural calamity that cause death in large numbers and

 remedial measures, including monetary compensation for both, labour and loss of life, akin

 to what is provided for flood and cyclones, are created.

It is increasingly evident that heatwaves in India from 1998 to 2018 have been spread out, 

more intense and have caused a lot more material damage and damage to the quality of life 

than what has been reported in the last 100 years.

 Temperatures have peaked 49 to 50 degree Celsius and have lasted for almost a week,

 resulting in a large spike in heat strokes, heat-related illnesses and death.

     GEOGRAPHICAL HAZARDS: VOLCANIC                               ERUPTIONS

Volcanic eruptions happen when lava and gas are discharged from a volcanic vent. The most common consequences of this are population movements as large numbers of people are often forced to flee the moving lava flow. Volcanic eruptions often cause temporary food shortages and volcanic ash landslides called Lahar.
The most dangerous type of volcanic eruption is referred to as a 'glowing avalanche'. This is when freshly erupted magma forms hot pyroclastic flow which have temperatures of up to 1,200 degrees. The pyroclastic flow is formed from rock fragments following a volcanic explosion , the flow surges down the flanks of the volcano at speeds of up to several hundred kilometres per hour, to distances often up to 10km and occasionally as far as 40 km from the original disaster site.