What is the issue?
With a rise in the frequency of devastating cyclones, India needs to look at some long-term mitigation measures.
What is the impact of the recent cyclones?
Tauktae (on the western coast, Gujarat) and Yaas (on the eastern coast, Odisha) were the two severe cyclones in India earlier in 2021.
Impact of both storms put together:
Damage to around 0.45 million houses & 0.24m hectares of crop area
Nearly 200 people died, and 37m people were affected
Large-scale uprooting of trees affected already depleting green cover
Economic loss of Rs. 320 billion
What do long-term trends show?
Rise in the frequency of devastating cyclones in the coastal States due to
Increasing sea surface temperatures in the northern Indian Ocean.
Changing geo-climatic conditions in India.
Every year, around 5-6 tropical cyclones are formed in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Of these, 2-3 turn severe.
Between 1891 and 2020
Out of the 313 cyclones crossing India’s eastern and western coasts, 130 were classified as severe cyclonic storms.
The west coast experienced 31 cyclones and the east coast, 282 cyclones.
The Odisha coast witnessed 97 cyclones, followed by AP (79), TN (58), WB (48), Gujarat (22), Maharashtra/Goa (7), and Kerala (2).
Why should India be particularly concerned?
Coastline of around 7,500 km exposes 96 coastal districts
Around 200 million city residents would be exposed to storms and earthquakes by 2050 in India.
Cyclones constituted the–
2ndmost frequent phenomena over 1999-2020
2ndmost expensive in terms of the costs incurred in damage accounting for 29% of the total disaster-related damages after floods (62%)
3rd most lethal disaster in India after earthquakes (42%) and floods (33%)
Why are long-term mitigation measures essential?
Global Climate Risk Index report 2021 - India ranks the 7th worst-hit country globally in 2019 due to the frequent extreme weather-related events & ranks 1st in human deaths and economic losses due to extreme weather-related events.
2014 Asian Development Bank’s report - India would suffer a loss of around 1.8% of GDP annually by 2050 from climate-related events.
Cyclones between 1999 and 2020 inflicted substantial damage to public and private properties
Led to an increase in the fiscal burden of governments
Fatalities declined from around 10,000 to 110 on account of improved early warning systems and better disaster management activities.
But these measures are not enough to achieve a zero-fatality approach and minimise economic losses from cyclones.
What should be done?
Improve the cyclone warning system.
Construction of evacuation shelters in cyclone-prone districts.
Revamp disaster preparedness measures.
Widen the cover under shelterbelt plantations and help regenerate mangroves in coastal regions to lessen the impact of cyclones.
Adopt cost-effective, long-term mitigation measures:
Buildcyclone-resilient infrastructure such as constructing storm surge-resilient embankments, canals
Improve river connectivity to prevent waterlogging in low-lying areas
Install disaster-resilient power infrastructure in the coastal districts, providing concrete houses to poor and vulnerable households.
Create massive community awareness campaigns.
Ensure healthy coordination between the Centre and the States concerned to collectively design disaster mitigation measures.
Source: The Hindu
