Letters to the EDITOR: Flood Preparedness

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Flood preparedness

It is known to everyone that Assam, like the rest of the Northeastern region, is at present plagued by a host of social problems. One such problem is recurring floods afflicting the state for a couple of decades now, particularly since 1950, when the great earthquake rudely struck the state, changing the courses of several rivers, including the river Brahmaputra, substantially eating away a large portion of Dibrugarh and Palasbari. The setting in of pre-monsoon rains sounds a warning bell in Assam to enhance preparedness for facing up to the challenges of annual floods. Establishing a comprehensive mitigation mechanism immediately is essential to address any flood-related emergencies in the near future. Every year during the rainy season in the state, from May to October, ravaging floods triggered by heavy rains cause extensive damage to standing crops, properties, and dwelling houses worth crores of rupees, besides rendering hundreds of thousands of people, especially those living in low-lying flood-prone areas of the state, homeless. Aside from flood relief and rehabilitation operations, anti-flood measures should include making temporary relief camps safe and secure and ensuring the setting up of much-needed sanitation.

That with the one-step-forward-two-steps-back approach on the part of the state’s concerned authorities in planning a well-considered, effective strategy for either resolving a solution on a long-term basis or reducing its menace, the intensity and unpredictability of the natural disaster in recent times in the state have conceivably increased due to climate change, as evidenced by the successive waves of insidious floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in recent times, inflicting huge losses on the state exchequer and the common people, mostly poor villagers, besides claiming human and animal lives, both domestic and wild. To justify the viewpoint in this regard, we may, for instance, take up the case of the pre-monsoon flooding of 2022. That year, according to media reports, Assam received a record 545.00 mm of rainfall since May 6 that very year. Resultantly, torrential rains triggered insidious flooding in as many as 27 districts, among others. Districts, namely, Dima Hasao, Karimganj (Sribhumi) and Hailakandi, suffered severe landslides. Rain is always welcome during scorching heat, but the situation began snowballing fast under the influence of devastating Cyclone “Asani” in the Bay of Bengal. According to the ASDMA, close to two lakh people in 20 districts had been affected by floods. During that time, surface communication was snapped. Railway services between Jatinga-Harangajao and Mahur in the hill sections were also hard hit by landslides.

An empirical study of past disasters reveals that Assam usually faces the annual calamity of floods during the monsoon months when incessant rains hit the state, leaving behind a trail of destruction. But that year, the annual disaster arrived earlier than could be expected, with Assam having already experienced the impact of flash flooding and landslides, resulting in loss of lives and property.

The 2022 flood was not the only high-intensity deluge to have claimed lives and destroyed property and infrastructure worth crores of rupees, besides inflicting immense suffering on the people, especially villagers. The July 2020 wave of floods in the state was also equally damaging. With nearly 13 lakh people having been affected and as many as 82,54,682 hectares of land inundated in 24 districts, including Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Majuli, Dhubri, Goalpara, etc. With the fast-swelling floodwater, the total fatalities during the month that year across Assam reportedly rose to a staggering 44. A review of the disaster also indicates how much ravaging and widespread it was.

Dwaipayan Dasgupta

(dwaipayan204@gmail.com)

Hollow Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)

Through your esteemed daily, I would like to highlight that customers of the State Bank of India have been facing an insurmountable problem with unserviceable ATMs in the Pandu Bara Bazaar area for over a fortnight now. Most of these ATMs, e.g., two machines at Gramya Devalaya, Bara Bazaar, were recently reinstalled in a renovated kiosk and were catering cash as usual. But, once these ATMs stopped dispensing cash from an earlier date, for reasons best known to the bank, and from that time until now, the SBI authority has not been taking care of filling cash or checking these machines to rectify a technical glitch, if any. The introduction of ATM services has immensely benefitted the bank customers as well as the operating branches in lessening their workload in the busy hours. Through your good office, the SBI authority is earnestly requested to feel customers' frustrating experiences and take immediate steps to rejuvenate these idle ATMs.

Pannalal Dey

Guwahati

Healthy mother and child: Nation’s pride

The Saturday, May 10 editorial of your esteemed daily, 'Health profile of mother and child in Assam', has rightly said that the state government's timely and groundbreaking initiatives for effective enforcement of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act, access to better education and preventing school dropouts of girls have not only prevented young girls from becoming mothers at a young age, but they have also helped decline the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate in Assam significantly, which is really good news for the state. As per reports, IMR in the state has dropped from 38 to 34 and MMR dropped from 195 to 167,but there is no room for complacency as the state has to go a long way to touch the national averages (IMR – 27 deaths per thousand; MMR-98 per lakh live births). There is utmost necessity for improvement of healthcare access and nutritional support for women and children, especially in rural Assam, to ensure a faster decline in IMR and MMR in the state. The WHO's campaign this year, "Healthy Beginning, Hopeful Future", will definitely encourage healthcare personnel to leverage it to intensify their efforts to further improvement of two crucial health indicators, provided there is a better ecosystem for efficient implementation of the government's relevant schemes by making the task of ASHA and other healthcare professionals easier and incentive-orientated, as they are the main workforce in realising optimal benefits of the government-sponsored schemes in the state's every nook and corner, which is extremely essential to achieve the SDG goal. Further, we need noticeable improvement in sanitation facilities, access to drinking water through household tap connections and a sufficient number of delivery points at primary health centres, particularly in rural areas. The importance of widespread launching of community awareness programmes against the social evil of teenage pregnancy cannot be overstated, as it puts young mothers at higher mortality risks. It is, therefore, the collective responsibility of every stakeholder to ensure maximum care of the pregnant women and the newborn, as the future of the nation begins from the healthy beginning in each home.

Iqbal Saikia,

Guwahati.