Disaster Management

Causes of Famine; Human activities leading to famines, Mitigation of famine

Apart from Earthquake, there are many other disasters that can cause major destruction to the ecosystem and living things. Let us study some disasters and their causes.

Floods

Flood is the rising of a water body and its overflowing onto normally dry land that leads to the drowning of the surrounding area. It may occur due to heavy rainfall that leads to overflow of water from the water bodies. Many people died in Tamil Nadu in 2015, due to the flooding caused by heavy rains. 

Effects

• Floods upset the normal life of people.
• Heavy floods cause extensive loss of life and property.
• It results in water logging for several days.

Flood-prone states in India are Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh.

Cloudburst



When the land is very hot and the water coming from the rain clouds does not reach to the land, instead rainwater vapourises and goes back to the same cloud. This eventually increases the amount of water vapour in the cloud and due to rapid condensation inside this cloud, we receive heavy rain over a limited area with a high rate and this sometimes can be over 100 mm per hour. This is also one of the events leading to floods. 
There was a massive cloudburst in Leh and Jammu & Kashmir affecting more than 9,000 people.

Drought
Drought is a condition that arises when there is no rainfall at a place for long time and no crops can grow there.  The soil of the affected area becomes dry and thus crumbles. It can be caused due to deforestation, increasing demand of water or climate change. 

Effects

• It can cause scarcity of drinking water.
• As no crops can be grown in the affected area, it would lead to the shortage of food.…