The Indian Army rescued more than 2,000 people in flood-ravaged J&K on Thursday. The situation is really grim. The Jhelum has been causing havoc and most other rivers in the state are also flowing above the danger mark, including in the Valley. Schools are shut and the Jammu-Srinagar highway is closed as landslides add to the agony and loss of life in Udhampur and Rajouri, where a stream in spate washed away a bus. The Vaishnodevi pilgrimage has been suspended. The scenario could not be more portentous of a natural calamity.
This is obviously not the time for politics, loaded though the scene may be with Assembly elections approaching and the Kashmir Pandits issue also beginning to cause friction. The Centre has responded maturely, promising all help and giving the Army a free hand. The point is much more has to be done by the states themselves.
The major point to ponder is that with rainfall patterns changing every year and different places getting more concentrated spells of rain each monsoon season — as we saw last year in Uttarakhand — our focus should be on disaster management. Since we seem incapable of fighting nature’s fury in a more planned way with flood water management despite the experience gained in the ecologically more vulnerable hilly regions, it is time for the states to spend time, energy and money on preparing their own disaster management corps.
