Newsletter No. 65;
washed
away
and
damaged
the
homes
of
thousands of people in these 4 states who are now
IRBMS
death toll rising to six. Nearly 1.5 lakh people were
affected at Thoubal and Imphal West districts.
living in relief camps and makeshift shelters. They
have almost no access to clean drinking water and Fast Groundwater depletion and
basic sanitation facilities. Due to water logged exceptionally high demand of water
surroundings and unavailability of toilets, people
are resorting to open defecation, leading to an Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) reports that
epidemic of water-borne diseases. This will create a Excess extraction of groundwater is to blame for
second disaster for people who are already the 61% decline in groundwater level in wells in
suffering. The situation worsened as train services India between 2007 and 2017. There needs to be a
remained suspended on some routes and roads behavioral change as we do not appreciate the cost
were washed away. Due to fresh landslips between of water like we do for a commodity like oil. Urban
the Bandarkhal and Damchara stations, rail areas are facing a threat with cities such as
movement continues to remain suspended on the Chandigarh,
Lumding-Badarpur section. According to the Bengaluru etc. all facing shortage with growing
Assam State Disaster Management Authority urbanization. The main reasons for the decline
(ASDMA), 3.87 lakh people have been affected in recorded by CGWB as part of their study include
Hojai, Karbi Anglong East, Karbi Anglong West, inadequate rainfall, exceptionally high demand
Golaghat, Karimganj, Hailakandi and Cachar versus limited supply owing to rise in population,
districts. According to the report Hailakandi has urbanization and rise in industries.
Puducherry,
Mumbai,
Delhi,
been the worst-hit with nearly 2.06 lakh people
affected, followed by Karimganj with almost 1.33
Groundwater level across central and southern
states i.e. mainly in peninsular India, was the main
lakh people.
cause of concern, owing to characteristics of the
Around 10,710 people have taken shelter in relief terrain. There are limited storage facilities owing to
camps in Karimganj district, Assam and more than the hard rock terrain, along with the added
3,500 families have been rendered homeless in disadvantage of lack of rainfall, especially in
Tripura alone. In Manipur, over 1.5 lakh people central Indian states.
were left marooned in two flood-hit districts as the
situation in the Imphal Valley worsened with the
3
Integrated River Basin Management Society