B M Kohli
Tsunami, flash floods and unprecedented rains come unexpected but the man creates reasons and becomes responsible to invite such a havoc against which he does not have any control thereafter. Scientists world over have put the onus on the global warming due to ruthless increasing vehicle pollution, decreasing greenery among other factors like burning of fossil fuel etc. Such happenings have become frequent in the recent past and J&K faced such a fury in the first week of September to leave its mark for many years to heal. The unprecedented rains in the whole of this state this month did not show any mercy to any part of the region of this state and the floods completely swallowed 400 villages of Kashmir valley and 300 villages in Jammu region besides land slides and damage of houses, structures of power , public health engineering and communication network in other 800 villages of 5 districts of Kashmir and 700 villages of 6 districts of Jammu also.
The extent of devastation, never seen before, can be gauged from the fact that almost all the rivers and nallahs in the region were flowing many feet above the danger mark particularly Chenab and Tawi in Jammu province and Jhelum drowned buildings up to 14-15 feet at many places and 7-8ft on roads as well. In Gogjibaag, Rambaag and other low lying areas it inundated even two story buildings. Going by the recent history of floods, major floods in Kashmir have been witnessed in September 1950, when about 100 people died and 15000 houses collapsed/damaged. Thereafter in August- September 1957. In July 1959 again, due to 4 days of constant rains in the valley , Jhelum river flooded and touched 30.25 ft, on 5th of July, 6 feet over and above danger mark . Again in 1992 floods, heaviest since 1959 , 200 died in valley and it caused about 2000 deaths in POK also. Such disasters are not limited to J&K only but (counting India only ) Orissa cyclones in 1999, Gujarat earth quakes in 2001 , Heat waves in Andhra Pradesh in 2002, Ocean Tsunami in 2004, Bihar floods in 2007, Eastern Indian storm in 2010, Maharashtra drought and Uttrakhand flash floods in 2013 all are the outcome of the atmospheric warming scenario. All such unprecedented happening are occurring so frequently the world over and still, the man kind is not so serious to control the causes which lead to Global warming of the atmosphere in spite of the concern expressed in the conferences held at international level where USA and European countries expressed reluctance in spite of being responsible for 58 percent CO2 emission. the world over.
As per studies 2001- 2010 decade has been experienced as the warmest since 1880 . And the number of cold days at various locations have declined and instead number of hot days and heat waves have increased. The studies have predicted global temperature increase of 3.1 to 7.2 degree Fahrenheit by the end of this century. Warmer temperatures increase the energy of the climatic system and can lead to heavier rainfall in some areas. Warmer water in the oceans pumps more energy into tropical storms, making them stronger and potentially more destructive. Even with storms of the same intensity, future hurricanes will cause more damage as higher sea levels exacerbate storm surges, flooding, and erosion. Scientists project that climate change will increase the frequency of heavy rainstorms, putting many communities at risk for devastation from floods and greater evaporation, particularly during summer and fall could inflict drought conditions and increase the risk of wildfires. The 2006 wild land fire season has (studied by an organization) set new records in both the number of reported fires as well as land burned. Close to 100,000 fires were reported and nearly 10 million acres burned, 125 percent above the 10-year average. The carbon emission in the atmosphere is increasing and Carlon dioxide 2 dissolves in rain water to make oceans more acidic and affects the sea vegetation and living beings of the oceanic world.
Not going for the controversy what has not been done , drastic steps needs to be taken for controlling the climate which is getting warmer and warmer day by day. Greening the transportation, managing forests, phasing out fossil fuel energy and switching on renewable sources are the four major factors for which our planners should put as much stress as possible. Otherwise the mankind cannot avoid worst to come in near future.
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