Monsoon misery in ‘God’s Own’
The annual monsoon rains bring life to India but as with any facet of life, there can be too much of a good thing.
In Kerala, a coastal state in southwest India, home to 35 million, the monsoon rains this year have been unprecedentedly severe. As they have continued into August, well past the time when they usually abate, the scale of the rains has surpassed that of any year since 1924 and catastrophe has piled on catastrophe.
Climate change is an obvious culprit. But two years ago the monsoon rains failed, so the exact nature of cause and effect cannot easily be determined. It is fair to say that many Keralans see the disaster as an act of God rather than of errant humans. As denizens of ‘God’s Own Country’ (Keralans are as unaware as Kiwis of any rivals for the title) it must be a sore realisation.
Rivers have overflowed, flooding houses and other buildings. Dams have come under acute pressure and in some instances water has had to be released, despite the downstream consequences. Roads have been blocked by fallen trees and landslips, which have also destroyed buildings. Gale force winds that would make any Wellingtonian feel at home have not helped.
The monsoon’s rage has brought human tragedy and suffering in its train: a death toll as of August 16 of nearly 80 and the displacement of tens of thousands of people in the most affected areas (Wayanad, Malappuram and Idukki districts) many of whom are now being looked after in hastily set up relief camps, aka schools (closed to classes), mosques and churches. And still the rain comes. Thus has a blessing become a curse.
The scale of the diaster has taken the state by surprise. Day by day Kerala has coped. The distribution system is functioning and the state government has speedily assisted disaster victims. Within the most affected districts, those whose own circumstances are less troubled have been assisting their less fortunate neighbours. There has been welcome cooperation across party and faith lines – the Left, Congress and BJP; Hindu, Muslim and Christian. Contributions and assistance have poured in from other parts of India. The central government has deployed navy, army and other personnel.
But as the waters recede, hard questions will be asked. Has development in Kerala’s back country, especially indiscriminate excavation for construction, made the environment more vulnerable to landslides and flooding than might have otherwise been the case? How much have difficulties been compounded by shoddy infrastructure? The public will certainly ask with greater force than in most years why contractors build roads seemingly designed to fail in rather than survive the monsoon.
And what about politics? Yes, the Centre has helped but has the BJP government in New Delhi been less than responsive to a disaster in a state with a non-BJP administration?
Two closing observations relevant to New Zealand
(1) A natural disaster in the digital age: the disaster has had a severe impact on ground communication and transport but in most places digital communications, including the all important social media, have been unaffected. That said, power outages in some locations have provided vivid demonstration of the vulnerability of even internet access to a natural disaster.
(2) India has ample resources and networks to handle the disaster. The outside world has contributed sympathy and support but in a fashion characteristic of mutuality in such matters among developed nations rather than exemplary of the dynamic of global aid agencies driving responses to third world disasters. We are on the cusp of a truly multi-polar world in which such ’riding to the rescue’ will be the exception not the norm.
Malcolm McKinnon is a Wellington historian and author of Asian Cities: Globilisation, urbanisation and nation-building (2011). He is currently visiting Kerala.