After the disaster
The recent events of cloudbursts at Kishtawar and Kathua raise many questions. One, the bigger question of climate change and our responsibility of making changes to our ways of engagement with environment. Two, the efficiency of our early warning system. In many cases a timely warning can save human lives, and possibly some reduction in material damage can also be expected. Three, what about the restoration of the affected population.
As the disaster has struck and we have faced immense damage, now the time is to lay out a detailed restoration plan and start its execution right away. The current dispensation should think of a very robust plan and ensure that this plan is executed efficiently.
True, we cannot get the lives that were lost in the disaster, back. But we can minimise the trauma of the affected families by coming to their rescue. What are the immediate ways of rescuing them?
Of course, monetary assistance of the affected families so that they can arrange for immediate and unavoidable needs, is the first thing to do. Another would be to find a suitable place for them where shelters can be built. The government agencies, after doing a scientific assessment, should decide on safer places where these shelters can be built. Since these regions are always prone to such natural disasters, it is about time to raise defences. The best defence is to find less vulnerable spaces for the residents of these areas. If the work on that starts soon, and if it really happens, we can bring long term relief to the people of these areas.
What is also required to do is to take care of the injured. There treatment and speedy recovery is the responsibility of the concerned departments. In the same backdrop, we need to take an assessment of the healthcare needs of the populations in these areas. In absence of access roads, and the erratic weather patters, the people living in these regions often face huge problems. They find it very difficult to avail even the basic and day to day healthcare facilities.
