Global environmental risks
Environmental risks are perceived to be the five most critical long-term threats to the world as well as the most potentially damaging to people …
The monsoon always catches the government unawares
First there was the mounting suspense. All of India awaited with bated breath the arrival of the south west monsoon. Would it arrive? Miraculously,…
Glaciers beating retreat
Himalayan glaciers, source of water for the innumerable rivers that flow across the Indo-Gangetic plains, are receding. And that too at a …
Breach of trust
This is not a story about floods in Bihar. This is a story about how an entire society has been corrupted by money meant to build embankments for …
Real estate on water
Lakes were critical for Indian cities. They prevented floods and recharged groundwater. Today, these holes in the ground are either lucrative …
There's nothing august about Mumbai
July 26, 2005: It began raining at 11 am. In the next 24 hours, India's most populous city received 944 mm of rainfall. The resultant flood …
Soon, an early warning system for cyclones and floods
Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) for Africa and Asia was put in place soon after the 2004 tsunami hit the Indian …
Eye on the storm
Cyclone Phailin has not taken many lives but has left behind a trail of destruction that severely cripples people’s livelihood. What did it …
Future shock
As the world continues to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the global temperatures could rise by 3°C by mid-century, says a soon-to-…
The past and present of rivers
Author(s): Karuna Futane We are a generation that has turned flowing fresh water rivers to rivers of sewage and garbage. We have lost rivers. …
Polavaram fraud
The Polavaram dam on the Godavari could displace 400,000 people and submerge nearly 4,000 hectares of forestland. Most of the people threatened …
How to contain Himalayan tsunamis
The Himalaya has one of the most fragile topographies among mountain ranges of the world on account of being the youngest. Even though its phase …
Full reservoirs as monsoon sets in: Why India should watch out for floods
Current live storage available in 123 reservoirs was 170 per cent of the same corresponding period of last year. This does not bode well for …
Bihar is flooding, but where did it start? Hint: look north
Once the neighbouring country opened its 56 sluice gates of Kosi barrage water levels in Bihar rose alarmingly
It’s been 40 years! Update India’s flood map NOW
Flood panel, on whose watch India’s flood-prone areas were demarcated, was formed in 1980
Malaysia floods force thousands to evacuate
Rapid urbanisation, industrial agriculture and conversion of forests into settlements have made townships increasingly vulnerable to extreme floods
Power of resilience
Book>> Women, Gender and Disaster • edited by Elaine Enarson, P G Dhar Chakrabarti • Sage • Rs 850
Kerala rains: 24 landslides in 24 hours, 22 killed, 22,165 moved
A landslide in Kavalappara village in Malappuram district has 30 houses buried under it
Nepal: A sitting duck for climate disasters
The country’s geography and ever-looming threat of climate change make it very vulnerable
Flood decontrol
Every action has an opposite and equal reaction. If you embank a river it bursts its embankments. So much for flood control measures
Himalayan plunder: Experts fear frequent landslides, floods, cloudbursts in J&K following Joshimath crisis
Unchecked construction, destruction of karewas and illegal riverbed mining pose threats to the region's ecology
Rising high to defeat floods in Bangladesh
A secure and cost-effective method of raising the height of vulnerable river island clusters is being used to protect them from flooding
Kuttanad: a case in point
Kuttanad in Malayalam means 'small town'. But the ecological devastation which human hands have wrought here is in no way small or insignificant
Span of contention
Was the Supreme Court correct in saying that the former Union minister of environment and forests had betrayed public trust?
.jpg "Polavaram fraud")
