Sir,
The state of Jammu & Kashmir is a hilly state prone to the vagaries of weather and vulnerable to natural disasters.Every year natural disasters such as landslides, floods, cloudbursts, avalanches etc take a heavy toll of life and property across the state.The death and destruction caused by the floods across the state last year bear ample testimony to the extent of death and devastation that such disasters can cause.Last year, many parts of Srinagar city remained submerged under water for days together as a result of devastating floods triggered by heavy rains causing loss of precious lives,extensive destruction and devastation of infrastructure, besides hardships to the affected people.
In Jammu division too,heavy loss of life and property was reported and a village named Saddal in Udhampur district was completely wiped out and deadbodies of the some of the victims have not been recovered yet. During the current rainy season, there have been reports in newspapers of many areas of both Jammu and Kashmir divisions being hit by cloudbursts which have taken a heavy toll of life and property.Only the other day, three people were killed and eleven injured in a cloudburst at Baltal,the base camp for Shri Amarnath ji Yatra.Cloudbursts also caused heavy loss of property in Ramban, Doda and Poonch districts blocking some roads for vehicular traffic.Well,we have no control over natural disasters such as cloudbursts and we cannot prevent them from taking place.
However, concrete measures can be taken to protect the life and property of the people residing in areas more vulnerable to natural disasters and provide immediate relief and rescue measures should such a disaster take place.The areas of the state frequently hit by floods, landslides cloudbursts etc need to be identified and the people of these ares should be made aware as to how to protect themselves from such disasters.They and their property also need to be insured against natural disasters on a highly subsidised premium in order to provide protection and financial help to the affected people.
Moreover, NDRF and SDRF must be posted in such areas and kept on high alert and always equipped with adequate machinery to deal with any such situation immediately.
Yours etc…..
Ashok Sharma,
Udhampur
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