MONSOON DEATH TOLL IN ASIA HITS 1,200
▶ Seasonal flooding in India destroys schools that serve 1.8 million children
At least 20 people were killed when a building collapsed in the Indian city of Mumbai yesterday, the latest victims of deadly monsoon rains across south Asia that have claimed more than 1,200 lives this year.
The early morning collapse in south Mumbai came two days after torrential rains flooded large areas of the city and left at least 10 people dead.
About a dozen people were rescued from the rubble of the four-storey residential building in the densely populated area of Bhendi Bazaar, which gave way at 8.40am. The structure is believed to have been weakened by the heavy rain.
Building collapses are common in Mumbai, especially during the monsoon season from late June to September. Seventeen people were killed when a four-storey building collapsed in the suburb of Ghatkopar last month.
Heavy rains in this monsoon have affected 40 million people across India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Besides forcing people out of homes, disrupting transport and destroying crops, damage to 18,000 schools has meant no classes for about 1.8 million children.
The rains that lashed Mumbai this week were the heaviest in 12 years, causing severe flooding that disrupted normal life and caused widespread damage across the city and the neighbouring region of Thane.
Train services were cancelled because of flooded tracks and residents had to wade through streets waist deep in water, including many who were forced to abandon their cars.
Many likened the situation to the severe floods of 2005 when hundreds of people died. Because Mumbai is the financial capital of India and the country’s richest city, with a total wealth of US$820 billion, (Dh3.01 trillion) according to the New World Wealth report, questions have been raised about whether more could have been done to prevent the flooding.
Other parts of India, particularly Assam and Bihar, have also been hard hit this monsoon. The northern states are part of a broad arc stretching across the Himalayan foothills that includes Bangladesh and Nepal, where heavy rains have causes landslides, damaged roads and electricity towers and washed away tens of thousands of homes and vast tracts of farmland.
The NGO Save the Children said 18,000 schools were destroyed or damaged, affecting
about 1.8 million children. The charity said yesterday that if education was not made a priority in relief efforts, hundreds of thousands could fall out of the school system permanently.
In Mumbai, although much of the flooding had receded by Wednesday, residents were left clearing up the damage and counting their losses.
The owner of a grocery shop in south Mumbai estimated the damage to his goods at up to 800,000 rupees (Dh45,876).
“It’s going to take me months to recover from this,” he said.
Authorities have faced questions over why the city was so hard hit despite substantial investments in drainage systems. In its defence, Mumbai’s municipal corporation said the rains were exceptionally heavy.
“The BMC has to give some answers on this, why this problem has occurred a number of times,” said Rushiraj Bagwaiya, an administrative assistant. “Two years back I remember there were some problems seen at the time of the rains.”
He said litter, in particular plastic bags, were a major problem because they clogged up the drainage system.
“We managed this time, but next time we think the authorities should take care of it,” he said.
But Sunil Chaubal, a lawyer who was stranded at a train station, said the floods were simply “a natural calamity” and not the fault of the authorities.
“We cannot blame anyone,” he said. “Mumbai is flooded by so many people from all over the country, and they’re throwing plastic all over the road and that’s clogging up the drains. People suffered. Mumbai did well to survive. If the rain had continued it would have been far worse.”