Srinagar- Rapid urbanization, population growth, loss of wetlands, deforestation, and unrestrained land use and land cover changes have made Kashmir Valley prone to floods, according to a report from the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).
The report titled as “Kashmir Floods 2014-Recovery to Resilience”, NIDM emphasized that the flood of 2014 in Kashmir was the worst flood in the last hundred years. The unprecedented rainfall was apparently the immediate cause of flooding in the Kashmir valley.
“However, it was aggravated by many other factors, for example, rapid urbanization, development activities like construction of railway line across the Valley, poor management of flood spill channels, encroachment of wetlands and land adjoining river banks, the disappearance of wetlands, etc,” the report said, a copy of which lies with Kashmir Observer.
“These factors contributed towards blocking of the natural drainage patterns and increased the severity of the flood,” it added.
The report said the presence of railway line aligned through flood plains also made a difference in the observed inundation patterns during 2014 flooding and might be responsible for the higher levels of inundation observed in Kakapora, Nowgam, Lasjan and Srinagar City.
The 2014 flood caused 287 deaths, adversely affecting around two million people. It paralyzed Srinagar city for several weeks.
The study revealed that less preparedness, mitigation and response planning had caused irreparable physical and economic losses to the community.
“Although disaster management systems may have been developed at various administrative levels, their functionality and effectiveness to respond to the disaster are still uncertain,” it said.
The report revealed that although heavy rainfall was the triggering factor of floods in the valley, the impact of the disastrous event was aggravated by other factors, including the rapid urbanization, encroachment of water bodies and land adjoining river banks, the disappearance of wetlands, etc. has blocked the natural drainage patterns making the situation worse.
The study noted that despite several events of floods in Jammu and Kashmir, the region has not been identified as flood prone. Installation of flood forecasting and early warning systems at appropriate locations and their regular monitoring has been a big challenge, it said.
Notably, Jammu and Kashmir has three hydrological stations—Sangam, Ram Munshi Bagh, and Safpora installed by Irrigation and Flood Control Department on Jhelum River which runs through the Valley. However, the local authorities, according to the report, could not read the alarming signals of the rise in the water level as these stations were used to only monitor the flow of water from India to Pakistan and are not tagged as flood forecasting stations.
“Had the information by these stations provided flood forecasts to the state authorities, they would have prepared for flood recovery by providing an early window to evacuate people from low-lying areas, deployment of special teams and arrangement of relief supplies,” the study noted.
The report said that failures in the flood forecasting systems and inadequacy of the existing early warning system probably contributed to the severity of the floods. The situation could have been controlled by proper communication networks and last-mile connectivity, it said.
The report suggested long-term measures in planning the flood preparedness, response and rehabilitation efforts in a well-coordinated manner by following the principle of Building Back Better.
The report said that the wetlands which acted as a natural sponge during the floods and shared the Jhelum waters are lost.
“About 44.4% of the lakes and wetlands have been lost in the suburbs of Srinagar during the turn of the 21st century and has affected the microclimate of the city, besides exposing them to the incurrent floods,” the report said.
“The wetland has receded consistently and undergone tremendous land-use change owing to siltation coupled with floods and human interference. The Hokersar wetland has experienced fragmentation and changes in land use/land cover due to excessive siltation and biotic interference over the last four decades,” the report said.
The study noted that most of the developmental activities are usually undertaken with utter disregard to environmental, geological, geomorphological and ecological conditions of the region.
“The ongoing construction boom is being fed by indiscriminate mining of sand, gravel, and boulders from riverbeds, which intends to weaken the existing flood control infrastructure which, in turn, makes the rivers more vulnerable to flash floods,” it said.
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