(This article is a part of the web-exclusive series from our latest issue 'Disaster Politics'. More from the print quarterly here.)
Even after two years, memories and scenes of the Uttarakhand floods of June 2013 – possibly the worst floods in the Himalayan region – are still terrifying. It is not just the number of deaths or the intensity of the raging river that generates this feeling. It is the possibility of such disasters occurring again that creates both fear and an urgency to learn lessons. Yet, the right lessons haven't been leant, especially in official circles within Uttarakhand, other Himalayan states in India and the neighbouring countries with Himalayan terrain. Indeed, the Nepal earthquakes of April-May 2015 should be a reminder. In the quake affected areas, a number of hydropower projects were damaged, exposing their vulnerability to natural disasters. Yet, we still do not want to read these signs.
Humans and their follies
There is little doubt that human activity exacerbated the Uttarakhand disaster in multiple ways. While unseasonal rainfall of high intensity was the immediate cause of the flood, such rainfall is itself linked to human-induced climate change. The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, in its annual extreme-weather report of September 2014, listed 16 extreme weather events of 2013 where the role of climate change was undeniable. The list includes the Uttarakhand disaster. Even some of India's bureaucrats, such as the secretary to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, agreed that there was undeniable climate-change footprint in this event.
Besides this link between global climate change and the floods, more immediate human interruptions also amplified the destruction. Uttarakhand, like most of the Himalayan region, is vulnerable to flash floods, landslides, erosion and earthquakes. In such a region, major infrastructure interventions need to be undertaken keeping these vulnerabilities in mind. But this hasn't happened. A report prepared by the National Institute of Disaster Management of the Government of India titled 'Uttarakhand Disaster 2013' acknowledges the region's ecological and socioeconomic vulnerabilities, and notes: "Developmental activities across the State, apparently devoid of focus on ecological balance and sustainable development, possibly resulted in enhancement of risk and vulnerability across the State."