Avoidable loss

Business Standard / New Delhi August 07, 2007

Unlike earthquakes and other such natural disasters which cannot be predicted with any degree of accuracy, floods are easily predictable as it usually takes a river many hours, even days, to breach its embankments after heavy downpours in its catchment area. That level of advance warning is not enough to prevent vast areas from being inundated by flood waters, so on a short-term basis the extensive loss of property and vital infrastructure would seem unavoidable. The issue is very real just now, as large parts of Bihar, Assam and eastern Uttar Pradesh are facing the fury of floods, which have been described by the United Nations as the worst in living memory. Many roads, bridges and other public utilities, besides crops and other private property, have been washed away.

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