Disaster management action plan soon: Minister

Thrissur: The State government will soon come out with an action plan for disaster management, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran has said.

He was addressing a State-level workshop for officials of district administrations and heads of various departments held here on Saturday with the objective of coordinating district disaster management plans.

The State-level preparedness plan, which is at the final stage of preparation, will be discussed at a meeting of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority to be held in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, the Minister said.

“Pre-disaster planning is a vital part of preparedness. A disaster management plan focusing on hazard, risk, vulnerability and resource assessment improves the efficacy of rescue operations,” he said.

Effective community involvement and public awareness could largely minimise the impact of disasters, the Minister said. Citing examples of the recent accidents in Thekkady and Kottayam, he said the active participation of local public in rescue operations had reduced the causality rates.

The Minister said that about 10 per cent of the fund for disaster management would be used for providing modern equipment for the Fire and Rescue Services. Ambulances will be distributed to the Health Department for rescue operations in coastal areas.

Training to the key community and social functionaries is an essential element for the successful execution of a disaster management action plan, the Minister said. “Procedures are progressing to start civil defence institutes in Thrissur, Kochi and Kottayam. Eternal vigilance is needed as natural disasters have become common, he said.

Source: The Hindu, dated: 28th march 2010

How to Soothe a Sunburn

There are some tricks that will soothe sunburn and some old wives tales that can do more harm than good. This list of do’s and don’ts will help if you find yourself with a nasty burn. Of course, start any time you spend in the sun with a sweat-proof, water-proof sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays and you won’t even need this information – prevention is the ultimate way to soothe sunburn!

Start with the Don’ts. They can actually cause further damage to your skin and increase your pain.

Don’t use anything cold to soothe a burn. Always use a cool soak or compress.

Don’t exfoliate or use products that contain glycolic acid, retinoids, or salicylic acid until you are completely done peeling. After you’re done peeling, wait another three days to allow your skin to finish healing. Your skin is too sensitive during this time to be exposed to these ingredients.

Don’t pop any blisters. Don’t apply any lotion or gel to blisters.

Don’t use an oil based spray even if it says it’s for use on sunburned skin. The coating these sprays form locks the heat of the burn onto your skin and greatly increases your pain.

Don’t pull off peeling skin. This can prolong and worsen peeling. Let flaking skin fall off naturally. 

Don’t go back into the sun until your burn has healed and your skin is no longer red or pink. If you must be in the sun, protect the burned areas of your skin with a hat, long sleeves or pants.


And now for the Do’s. These are tried and true ways to treat a sunburn that will benefit your skin and help speed up the healing process.

Do keep your legs or arms elevated when they are even moderately burned.

Do use damp, chilled teabags to soothe sunburned eyelids. Chamomile is gentle and works well.

Do use cool compresses soaked in milk to soothe the affected areas. Milk proteins create a protective coat on the skin that helps maintain the moisture necessary for the healing enzymes to both soothe the skin and take away the sting.

Do take a cool 10 – 15 minute shower to lower your increased body temperature. This will also help pull the heat from the burn and reduce your pain.

Do drink green tea or pomegranate extract or juice. Both have soothing anti-inflammatory benefits and are strong antioxidants, which can help repair the unseen damage of UV exposure.

Do eat lots of fruits (especially berries) and veggies. Their antioxidants will also help lessen UV damage.

Do moisturize a lot! Use moisturizers with aloe and antioxidants, especially on your face. Continue to moisturize even while you’re peeling.

Do sleep in very soft, loose-fitting dress with no lace or tags to help reduce pain.

Do call/see your doctor immediately if you experience blistering, fever, chills or weakness as a result of your sunburn.

Source: here

Sunburns - Do's and Don'ts

PALAKKAD: In an unprecedented high temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius experienced in the district for the last two weeks, five persons were admitted to a hospital at Pathiripala, near here, with sunburns on Wednesday. The Health Department which confirmed the sunburn incident after examining the five persons issued a warning to the people in the wake of the rise in temperature in the district. Four taxi drivers and a vegetable vendor who were exposed to the sun suffered burns on the backside of their shoulder. The taxi drivers who went to take bath at a nearby river in the afternoon found that they were having burns on their back and swelling. After sometime the skin peeled out and they experienced severe pain. Source - The Hindu, Thursday, Mar 11, 2010

Friday, March 12, 2010

Click here for detailed news and Do's and Don'ts regarding surnburn

Virtual maps to help in disaster management

Hyderabad: The set-up is straight out of a sci-fi movie. But its applications are for real disasters. Taking a cue from the tsunami that hit the Indian shores on December 26, 2004, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) virtually mapped Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu to study levels of inundation in the area for future use in case of natural disasters. The pilot project, which was initiated by the Government of India during 2007, involved creating 3D maps of coastal areas which provide basic details that can be used during emergency situations. Information on buildings, roads and population can be seen on the maps which are accessed by the Tsunami Warning Centre (TWC) on the INCOIS campus in Hyderabad.

“Since it was one of the worst-hit areas during the tsunami, we decided to map Nagapattinam. The mapping is done based on hi-resolution mathematical and topographic information. These facts and figures are combined and programmed to be displayed on 3D geographical information system (3D-GIS), meaning one can see the buildings as they are in real,” says TWC in-charge Srinivas Kumar. Details of coastal areas between Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts were collected to assemble a 3D map covering an area of 100 km along the coast. The mapping area included areas about three km from the coast. “We chose this stretch as it was most populated and damaged area during the tsunami. Studies were conducted to identify the elevation of ground level, population and based on those results, the maps were made,” points out Dr. Kumar.

In case of another natural disaster, the team manning the warning centre can ascertain the extent of inundation, building damage and in due course help chalk out an action plan by accessing information such as road networks, buildings and population. “A lot of ‘priority’ areas which are prone to inundation have also been tagged on the maps which will be useful in disaster management. Based on these applications, mapping can be done for highly populated areas on the coast,” informs a scientist from the TWC. With the pilot project complete, INCOIS is planning to start a full-fledged survey of the Indian coastline and begin working on 3D maps later this year.

Source: the Hindu, dated: 23.02.2010

Panel to conduct survey of unsafe buildings in capital

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The district administration will set up a high-level committee to carry out a survey of the unsafe buildings in the State capital.

The committee would have the Town Planner, officials of the Public Works and Revenue Departments and experts as members, District Collector Sanjay M. Kaul said here on Tuesday. The district administration was of the view that there were several unsafe old buildings in the district, he said.

Mr. Kaul said the move to set up a committee was taken in view of the collapse of the 80-year-old Udupi Srevas-Sreenivas Tourist Home on Monday.

The District Collector said rescue operations were called off temporarily, as all missing persons had been traced. The work to remove the debris would start on Wednesday.

City Police Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar said the removal of the debris would be a long process due to several impediments in taking the heavy equipment to the complex.

The District Collector would form an expert committee comprising Public Works Department (PWD) officials, building experts and Fire and Rescue Service personnel to decide on the fate of the remaining portion of the building.

Rescue operations

It was a tremendous effort for the over 240 Fire and Rescue Service personnel from the southern districts to extricate those trapped in the debris. The police lend a helping hand with top officials supervising the rescue operations.

In addition to those in the district, Fire and Rescue Service personnel from Ernakulam, Angamaly, Thripunithura, Gandhi Nagar, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Kollam were roped in. Two personnel, N. K. Arun and Shafiq Ali, from the city were injured during the rescue work.

The dead persons were in the ground floor of the building. “We used hydraulic equipment like power cutter and driller among others till 11 p.m. on Monday. The JCB was pressed into service only later,” a Fire and Rescue Service official said.

The JCB operator, Velu, 23, was the cynosure of all eyes. Braving the threat posed by the front portion of the tourist home which was on the verge of collapse, Velu hailing from Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu was at work from 11 p.m. on Monday to remove the concrete beams and debris. He received a hero’s welcome when he came out of the complex accompanied by Praveen who gave him support during the task.

The City Police Commissioner was all praise for the dedication shown by Velu and Praveen. Divisional Officer of Kerala Fire and Rescue Services Joe Kuruvila, who was at the site, said Velu played a significant role in the rescue work.

The Hindu

Need for disaster management plan

 STED Project is preparing a plan for Kozhikode. Biju Govind says this has attained importance after the July flooding in the district.The flooding and other calamities that befell Kozhikode during the heavy rain in July call for a disaster management plan for the district. Although the Centre had enacted the Disaster Management Act in 2005 and asked the State governments to set up disaster management units, only a few have done so. The Kerala government entrusted preparation of disaster management plans to the district administrations in January 2009. People believe that casualties and damage to property can be minimised with such a plan. After having experienced flooding year after year, the district administration is now in the process of formulating a district disaster management plan.The Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development (STED) Project has been entrusted with the task.It has drafted a proposal by making a geo-demographical profile detailing housing patterns, roads, means of transport, hospitals and government and private services available in the district.In consultation with various departments, including that of geology, the project officials will record the hazards the district had witnessed.They will do an analysis of the worst cases and find the areas vulnerable to natural calamities.Such steps will help the district administration take preventive measures, says Mohanan Manalil, project director.There will be a non-structural disaster mitigation plan focussing on preparedness methodology, awareness campaign, disaster recovery inventory and enforcing existing codes and laws. The structural mitigation measures include retrofitting and earthquake-resistant constructions, he says.The management plan will concentrate on short- and long-term responses. The short-term plan centres on rescue operations, relief operations and rehabilitation, while the long-term plan emphasises action plans for the departments of Police, Fire and Rescue Services, Revenue, Irrigation, Education, Health Service, Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Public Works, the Kerala State Electricity Board, the Red Cross, the National Cadet Corps and the Scouts.

 

The Hindu, 1st August 2009 

Disaster management plan for district

 A disaster management plan for the district is taking shape with the collaboration of several government departments, the Centre for Earth Science Studies and the India Meteorological Department. The plan is being prepared by a body called the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship that functions under the Science and Technology Department.The plan was discussed at a meeting presided over by District Collector P.B. Salim. Additional District Magistrate P.M. Babu, Revenue Divisional Officer K.P. Remadevi, Geological Survey of India geologist C. Muralidharan and heads of various government departments were present.

 

The Hindu, 27th July 2009 

National Disaster Management Authority

Directives to tackle disasters

 

Source: Malayala Manorama, 4th August 2009

 

National Disaster Management Authority

Directives to tackle disasters

 

Source: Malayala Manorama 4th August 2009

 

Landslips hit several places in Wayanad

KALPETTA: Heavy rain in the district in the past three days caused
extensive damage to crops and properties. Revenue officials said two
persons were missing after landslips at Neelimala, near Vaduvanchal,
and Kathanpara, near Rippon, in the district on Thursday. The
officials said nearly 100 landslips occurred at various parts of the
district on Thursday. A 32-member CISF team, comprising the National
Disaster Response Force (NDRF), led by D.S. Rao, inspector executive
of the CISF, reached the district on Thursday to assist in rescue
operations, Additional District Magistrate K. Vijayan, holding charge
of Collector, told The Hindu on Thursday. Another batch of NDRF
personnel would reach here on Friday, he added.
He said the people in 49 villages under the Vythiri, Sulthan Bathery
and Mananthavadi taluks were the worst affected. As many as 46 houses
were destroyed and 379 suffered partial damage in rain-related
calamities. The damage to the houses were estimated at Rs.2,095,000.
The damage to crops was estimated at Rs.5,74,45000 in 666.24 hectares,
sources in the Agriculture Department said. Mr.Vijayan said 3,159
people were shifted to various relief camps in the district. "As many
as 50 relief camps and 14 medical units are functioning in the
district." Workers of Kerala State Electricity Board were trying to
restore the severed power lines.A holiday has been declared for
educational institutions, except professional colleges, in the
district on Friday and Saturday. The officials said rainfall of 255.3
mm was recorded at Vythiri; 194.4 mm at Mananthavadi; and 138 mm at
Sulthan Bathery from 6 a.m. on Wednesday to 6 a.m. on Thursday. The
average rainfall in the district was 19.58 cm on the day. Traffic
between Kozhikode and Bangalore on the NH-212 was disrupted as the
road was inundated at Ponkuzhy near Sulthanbahtery.

The Hindu, July 17

Kerala asked to submit project for cyclone preparedness

Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran has asked the
Kerala government to submit a Rs.400-crore project to the Centre for
assistance to improve preparedness for cyclones.
Delivering the inaugural address at a National Consultation on
Disaster Management here on Tuesday, he called upon the State
government to submit a detailed project report under the National
Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project. Mr. Ramachandran said the earlier
proposal for a Rs.166 crore project was grossly inadequate to equip
the State for cyclones.He urged the government to seek technical
assistance from scientific institutions like the Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore, National Institute of Technology, Kozhikode, and
the Government College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, for
geo-technical investigation and micro-zonation of districts vulnerable
to natural disasters.Steps should be taken for documentation of
traditional best practices in disaster management.The Minister said
efforts were on to identify a location in Kerala for a new battalion
to be raised for the National Disaster Response Force .
Paradigm shift
He said the constitution of the National Disaster Management Authority
and its State-level units had resulted in a paradigm shift from
post-disaster relief and rehabilitation to prevention, mitigation and
preparedness.

The Hindu, July 1

Solid waste management authority mooted

The former IAS official Philipose Thomas has mooted a solid waste
management authority for better coordination between those involved in
waste management and the local bodies. Speaking at a seminar on solid
waste management organised by New Media and the Global Forum for
Disaster Reduction in the capital on Friday, Mr. Thomas suggested that
the ideal way to overcome the problem was not to generate waste. The
former IAS official pointed out that 50 per cent of the waste
generated in the country was paper. Making offices paperless and use
of both sides of paper for writing would result in less wastage. He
also stressed the need for creating awareness among the public and the
children to overcome the problem. Associate vice-president, marketing
and business development, JCB, Amit Gossain, called for the effective
use of technology to overcome the problem. Machines should be
effectively used and integrated solid waste management should be
adopted. Adopting 4 R's - refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle -
segregation of waste at source, creating awareness and including waste
management in the curriculum were some of the steps mooted by him.
"Public-private partnership in waste management will go a long way as
the government cannot do it alone," he added. Vice-president of IL&FS
Waste & Urban Services Ltd. Kapil Gupta said it was time to set
scientific landfills in the country. "Those in the country are just
dumping yards and they look like mountains." According to him,
e-waste, bio-medical waste and construction and demolition waste will
have to be addressed in the coming days. The IL&FS, in association
with Delhi Municipal Corporation, is setting up a 500-tonne
construction and demolition waste plant, which is expected to commence
functioning in August. Director of Science Technology &
Entrepreneurship Development Project Mohanan Manalil said 6,000 tonnes
of waste was being generated daily in the five corporations, 53
municipalities and 999 panchayats in the State.

The Hindu, June 27

Disaster management centre opened

The district administration opened a disaster management centre at the
Collectorate here on Thursday. Deputy Collector M.C. Venugopal
inaugurated the centre. A control room functioning round-the-clock
became functional at the centre. Village disaster management
committees have been formed in 23 fishing villages spread across 11
panchayats in three taluks in the coastal region of the district. Task
forces will be formed soon by training volunteers in various areas of
disaster management. Advanced disaster alert systems will be set up in
seven coastal villages and the district headquarters. The control room
can be reached at 0483- 2736320. The toll-free number of the control
room will be 1077. A demonstration and training session in disaster
management was organised at the Collectorate on Thursday.

The Hindu, June 26

Disaster management centre

A round-the-clock emergency operations centre will become operational
at the Collectorate shortly as part of the disaster mitigation
initiative. The centre will be equipped with modern equipment.

The Hindu, June 26

Seismic micro-zoning and city planning

Seismic micro-zoning is necessary in city planning so that in case of
a natural calamity, such as an earthquake, the district administration
and the disaster management team in a city knows how to go about
rescue operations. A. Bhoominathan, Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, IIT, Madras, says that study of soil properties is
important to know the kind of design a building should have. Since
Ernakulam has different compositions of soil because it has both
coastal and mountainous terrains, it is important that the town
planners have an idea of seismic micro-zoning.
Prof. Bhoominathan, who is in charge of micro-zoning studies in
Chennai for which IIT, Madras, is the nodal agency, says that
constructing tall buildings and bridges on deep soil sites (where
thickness of soil is in several layers) requires effective designing
to lessen the risk of damage during earthquakes. Similarly, rocky
areas require a different design. More damage is expected on single-
or double-floor buildings in a rocky area. The thickness of soil
decides the response of the constructed structure during an
earthquake. The district administration can suitably plan if
micro-zoning for earthquakes is taken up, he adds. Prof. Bhoominathan
was in Kochi on a training programme for engineers and architects
organised by the United Nations Development Programme and the district
administration. As Kochi has been recently included as a vulnerable
city for earthquakes, the training programme aimed at equipping the
engineers working in government institutions and private organisations
to get an update on design modules for disaster mitigation. The
micro-zoning study is part of a project of the Union Ministry of Earth
Sciences. The National Earthquake Disaster Mitigation project for
training the engineers is being jointly implemented by the Union
government and the United Nations Development Programme through the
district administration.

The Hindu, June 20

More floods, no winter

Mumbaikars need to brace themselves for more disasters as extreme weather events such as the deluge on July 26, 2005 may not be a one-off event. The climate in Indian cities like Mumbai are warming up fast and this could be a recipe for more natural disasters, said the India Meteorological Department (imd). The regional imd office at Mumbai analyzed 100 years of weather data from 1901 onwards and found a rise of 1.62°C in the average maximum temperature. The report was submitted to the state chief minister on May 11.In its report, Environmental degradation, disasters and climate change, the imd team has argued that human activity induced environmental degradation was responsible for global warming."Our analysis shows that the 1990s witnessed three times more natural disasters, like floods and thunderstorms, than the 1960s. Even drought-prone districts such as Jaisalmer and Barmer in Rajasthan suffered devastating floods in 2006…Since 1960s, expenditure on mitigation and reduction of such disasters has increased nine-folds," said R V Sharma, deputy director general of meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, during a recent press briefing (see graph: Annual mean maximum temperature in last 100 years).Between early 20th and 21st centuries, Mumbai registered a mean maximum temperature rise of 1.62°C; this is a cause of great concern, Sharma said. It is not surprising that winters are giving Mumbai a miss, he added.Is a rise of about 2°C over 100 years really a matter of concern? Scientists warn such a rise has a direct negative impact on human health and food security."There is scientific evidence to prove that an increase of 1°C in northern India's hilly areas means wider malaria window. Mumbai is seeing a surge in malaria, but as of now we cannot blame it on global warming. We have recently tied up with King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, to find out how diseases like malaria, dengue and asthma are related to global warming and climate change," said Rakesh Kumar, head of National Environm-ental Engineering Research Institute's Mumbai office, at a public meeting on 'Climate Change and Mumbai'.Meanwhile, newspapers in Mumbai are full of reports on rise in malaria cases. Already 1,351 malaria cases have been reported till April this year, there were a total of 790 cases last year. The municipal corporation is blaming this on its inability to carry out the spraying of ddt and other anti-malaria measures as its staff is posted on election duty.Though there is no clear pattern, Sharma claims that 2001 onwards rainfall over Mumbai has increased. This could be due to a change in the lapse rate or the rate of change of any meteorological element (temperature in this case) with altitude. The lapse rate determines the growth of clouds."The lapse rate is increasing with the cooling of air in the upper atmosphere and warming of the lower atmosphere. With such a steep lapse rate, cloud formation will be rapid and there will be more thunderstorms. There will also be heavy precipitation. This explains why there were more thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in the past decade," Sharma explained.Could a steep lapse rate be the reason behind cloud burst on July 26, 2005, when the city received 944 mm rainfall in just one day?

 

The New Indian Express, 13th June 2009

Call to step up research on climate change

Thiruvananthapuram: Speakers at a panel discussion organised by the Centre for Earth Science Studies here on Tuesday called for enhanced research studies on the impact of climate change and mitigation efforts. R.V.G. Menon, scientist and social activist, who presided over the inaugural function, underlined the need for integrated studies to develop a database, master plan and strategy to combat climate change. Calling for a multidisciplinary approach to the issue, he said long-term policies to encourage public transport and step up research into renewable energy had become inevitable. Mr. Menon said the time had come to equip the people to face the consequences of climate change. He, however, stressed the need to establish a strong correlation between climate change and its natural disasters. Delivering the inaugural address, Executive Vice-President of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) E.P. Yesodharan said the council was awaiting the clearance of the Finance Commission for a Rs.350-crore research project on climate change and its impact. He said climate change posed a threat to India's agriculture, public health and economy.  "Kerala faces a threat from many new and emerging species that could be disease-carrying vectors. The rise in sea level poses another danger for the coastal areas of the state," he said. CESS Director M.Baba said the institution had launched an integrated study on climate change and its impact on vulnerable sectors.Scientists from various research institutions in the State and representatives from the National Institute of Oceanography participated.

 

The Hindu, 10th June 2009 

On a short fuse

Hundreds were killed and many more rendered homeless when cyclone Aila hit Bangladesh and West Bengal recently. We can argue whether this happened because of climate change or not. But that is only a detail. Today, as the earth faces its most serious environmental crisis, the time to quibble over such detail is long past.For, an indisputable fact is that the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the world's atmosphere, the consequence of decades of fossil fuel burning mainly by industrialised countries, has set in motion a series of environmental disasters.Today, the earth is warmer. If temperatures increase by two degrees Celsius, we are talking of major catastrophes. Sea levels are already rising. If they continue, entire island nations could be wiped out. Maldives, with its population of 300,000, is already planning evacuation strategies. Food production is declining in the countries that need it most, such as sub-Saharan Africa. A new report by the World Bank suggests that climate change will also impact agriculture in several parts of India. And glaciers, including those in the Himalayas, are melting faster. The list of environmental changes following global warming grows every day. The consequences of climate change are already on our doorstep.As the crucial COP 15 — the 15th Conference of Parties discussing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — approaches (December 7 to 18 in Copenhagen, Denmark), the buzz about global warming can be heard in the corridors of power across the world. Even in India, several members of the new Cabinet mentioned the importance of these negotiations for India.Environmental issues are easier to grasp when they concern man-made or natural disasters that affect us, or when government action exacerbates environmental deterioration. They are more difficult to comprehend when they comprise international negotiations such as those in Copenhagen. Why should any of this be of interest to the ordinary Indian?Yet, as voluminous studies and documentation have already established, the consequences of global warming will affect everyone, rich and poor. But the poor will have to bear the greater burden, as their dependence on natural resources for survival is greater. According to the international charity Oxfam, by 2015 global warming will adversely affect an estimated 375 million people, the majority of them from developing countries. That is just six years away.The essentials of the debate on climate change have remained unchanged in the last decade. The current crisis is the result of accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the earth's atmosphere as a consequence of decades of uncontrolled fossil fuel consumption by industrialised countries. Their growth and current economic status was premised on this pattern of energy production and consumption.The price for this accumulation of GHGs is being borne largely by developing and poor countries. They are being forced to adapt to the changes in the environment resulting from an increase in the earth's temperature and they do not have the funds to use less carbon and yet sustain economic growth that is essential to their survival. The G77 countries and China have argued that not only should industrialised nations cut back their emissions of GHGs — China has demanded a 40 per cent cut to 1990 levels by 2020 — but that they should also finance poor countries if they want them to curb their emissions. With the focus on the growing economies of India and China that are using all available resources to meet their energy deficit, the importance of financial support to underwrite low-carbon growth becomes even more important. In Copenhagen this debate will continue but with one major difference. In 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol set up internationally agreed targets of limiting GHG emissions by industrialised countries, the biggest emitter of these gases, the United States of America, refused to come on board. Today, under the new Obama Administration, the US is more willing to be a part of an international agreement. President Obama has already announced a 10-year programme for renewable energy in the US with an investment of $150 billion. He has discussed with the automobile industry setting up fuel efficiency norms to reduce vehicle emissions. However, the US is still resisting any imposition of targets and many argue that even the steps it has taken are too little and too late given the crisis facing the world.Unfortunately, the flip side of this is US pressure on India and China to also accept targets to curb their GHGs. At the moment, the US and China together are responsible for 16 per cent of the carbon dioxide emitted. But while the per capita emission of the US is 20 tonnes, that of China is less than four tonnes. India, at just over one tonne per capita, is even lower. India and China have argued that while present and future accumulation of GHGs must be addressed, the current crisis is a consequence of the past. Therefore, the major responsibility for addressing it rests with the industrialised world.So Copenhagen and the run-up to it will see more of such sparring. India, as part of G77 countries, and China will push hard for a commitment from the industrialised countries for a percentage of their GDP to fund climate action in developing countries. In recent days, the Mexican government has put forward a proposal based on past and current emissions and the size of GDP to calculate how much countries should give for a global climate fund. Also, even as this is being written, crucial negotiations are under way in Bonn, Germany on the sticky issue of finance. The UN estimates that $100 billion per year will be needed for mitigation and Oxfam suggests another $50 billion a year for adaptation to climate change. An agreement in Bonn would hold out hope for a positive outcome at Copenhagen.But apart from this global dimension, countries like India and China also face the challenge of devising strategies that ensure growth and yet are environmentally responsible. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is quoted in India's position paper on climate change as saying, "Our people want higher standards of living, but they also want clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe and a green earth to walk on".  At present, our pattern of growth seems to be heading in exactly the opposite direction. There is no fresh air in our cities, clean water is available only to a few and our green areas are disappearing by the minute. For too long, governments have paid mere lip service to renewables. The ministry for non-conventional energy resources that has now been renamed as ministry for renewable energy was always considered unimportant. As a result, there are desultory efforts made to encourage solar energy in a country with abundant sunshine or to promote wind energy or tidal energy. How are these renewables going to be pushed by the new government? Similarly, in the building frenzy in our cities, little thought has been given to establishing building codes and norms that require energy efficiency and conservation in these new constructions. Even if we hold that others have brought on this crisis, surely we need to ensure that we do not add to the problem. Less energy intensive construction need not necessarily be more expensive. Yet, there is a singular absence of debate on such issues in India. While the world debates the dire consequences of automobile emissions, in India we continue to add more cars to our congested roads. In Europe, on the other hand, efforts are in place to reduce vehicular emissions by making cities bicycle and pedestrian friendly and improving public transport. This is combined with taxes, such as a congestion tax, to discourage private automobiles from entering crowded city centres. The result is cleaner air and smoother travel. Isn't that something every urban resident in India dreams of? Yet, inspect any Indian city's development plan and you see no attempt at such an environmentally sound approach. Is it impossible to plan to aim for the clean air the Prime Minister has spoken of by working on this perspective for our cities? Surely the question is not just one of funds but of vision. India cannot afford to wait until there is an international agreement on a climate fund before taking crucial decisions about its energy generation and consumption. Our poor will be amongst the millions who will bear the brunt of global warming. They are the environmental refugees that already flood towns and cities because every year drought, floods and other disasters force them to abandon their homes. Climate change will bring with it a noticeable increase in the scale and frequency of such disasters. Even as the Indian government lobbies internationally for a more just and equitable system to deal with the consequences of global warming, we as citizens should push the government to take steps that prevent this country from becoming a place where every breath you take is foul, every sip of water is contaminated and where green is a colour we see only on our flag.

 

The Hindu, 7th June, 2009

Environmentalists concerned over concrete embankments in Jaipur

Environmentalists have questioned the wisdom of the move initiated by
the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) to make permanent banks for the
Amanishah-ka-Nallah, a river that once flowed through Jaipur. By
making concrete and cement embankments on the river, referred to as
"Drabhavati" in the archives of the former Jaipur State, the JDA would
only be helping an ecological disaster in the city, they warned. In
what apparently is an otherwise well-meaning move, the JDA is planning
to spend an estimated Rs. 410 crore for the work on the presently dry
river — starting from the Bhooteshwar Mahadev temple to the
Ramchandrapura dam into which it drains. As a part of the project, the
Authority has surveyed and earmarked the land forming part of the
river and its banks on both the sides in this fast-growing city where
land grabbing and encroachments on common land have become a routine
affair."The Nallah has a great potential for the city. Originating
from the Nahargarh Hills and traversing though a 50-km stretch, the
drain is the most unique feature of Jaipur's eco system," says Harsh
Vardhan, honorary general secretary of the Tourism and Wildlife
Society of India, who has petitioned the authorities in this regard.
"We are not questioning the intentions of the JDA. However, the most
ideal thing for it to do would have been to declare the entire stretch
of the river, along with the banks, an eco-sensitive zone," Mr.
Vardhan said.In fact, the Indian Army has shown how it can be done by
restoring a portion of the Nallah keeping intact its basic features
thus providing benefits to both the defence personnel and the
civilians living in the neighbourhood. "This kind of work in soil
conservation, grass plantation and creation of rubble check dams can
be initiated on the entire stretch of the dry river and benefits would
soon start reaching the people," Mr. Vardhan argued.

The Hindu, 25th May 2009

Intensive farming at heart of flu crisis

In modern disaster management theory, when any large system experiences a major shock or failure, you assess the risk, activate an ordered emergency response, and manage the after-effects. In the world of real people hit directly by the real shock, you look for someone to blame. For ordinary Mexicans this week, who faced the shutdown of their country by swine flu and an unknown number of deaths, it was a culprit that was needed. The source of the current epidemic was easy to identify in their eyes. Near the town of La Gloria, east of Mexico City, which appears to be the epicentre of the flu outbreak, is a giant industrial pig complex jointly owned by the world's largest pig processor, Smithfield Foods. Smithfield is adamant that the swine flu epidemic is not of its making and has no connection to its factory farms in Mexico or in any of the countries where it has established its powerful presence. By the end of the week, the company had, like a besieged banker, gone into shutdown mode and declined to give interviews, but it issued a statement: "We have found no evidence of the presence of influenza virus in any of our pig herds or any of our employees at any of our worldwide operations. All our herds are tested regularly for disease including influenza. We routinely administer flu vaccines to protect them and conduct monthly tests to examine the presence and identity of different flu strains." When a young boy from La Gloria who had been ill in March became the earliest confirmed case of the current swine flu outbreak, following new tests by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control (CDC) on previously cleared samples from Mexico, Smithfield said it too was re-examining its herds. It was confident that it could reassure people who have been "bombarded by unfounded opinions, non-scientific statements and unrestrained internet rumour and speculation" that it was not the source. It declined to answer detailed press questions on its tests.Like the rest of the world watching a potential pandemic unfold as though in a slow-motion car crash, Smithfield could do little but wait to see how hard or soft the landing would be. Smithfield's predicament has not been helped by the fact that it has made itself somewhat conspicuous with its habits. It operates on a grand scale. The volume of its pig waste is extravagant. But just as one bank did not alone cause the financial crisis but merely conformed to the latest banking type, so it is the very nature of today's globalised meat industry that is at the heart of this swine flu pandemic. The factory unit near La Gloria fattens nearly a million pigs a year. Globally Smithfield slaughtered 26 million pigs in 2006, generating sales of $11.4bn and profits of $421m. It already controls over a quarter of the total U.S. processed pork market and it has expanded by acquisition in Europe. Like the banking sector, the global food system has seen the emergence of unprecedentedly large players that are dominant at every stage of production from pig breeding to bacon slicing. The modern food system has a sophistication and global interdependence to match the financial system, too. It looks too big to fail. But like that sector, it is also extraordinarily fragile and vulnerable to shock. Many of the shocks are likely to be of its own making. Smithfield's intensive factories of densely packed hogs, like those of the rest of the large-scale industry, produce vast lagoons of foul-smelling discharges. In many of the areas where it has sited its factory farms or slaughtering and processing complexes, activists and locals have campaigned against it, accusing it of environmental pollution, labour rights abuses and in some places operating without proper permits. The people of La Gloria have had long run-ins with the company's nearby subsidiary Granjas Carroll. When 60 per cent of the town's population became ill in March with flu-like symptoms, they quickly blamed the pigs. Swine flu is currently being passed from human to human, and it is possible that this particular strain of swine flu was created without ever seeing a pig directly, as U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) experts on animal health point out. The FAO has, however, dispatched a surveillance mission to help the Mexicans check their pig herds. But the focus on Smithfield is not surprising given its history. It won notoriety a decade ago when two of its US subsidiaries were given the largest ever environmental fines by the government's Environmental Protection Agency, having to pay $12.6m for illegally discharging pollutants from its operations in to the Pagan river in Virginia. It had committed more than 5,000 violations of permit levels for discharging faecal coli forms, phosphorus, ammonia, cyanide and oil from its pig factories over more than five years, destroying fish stocks and polluting water tables. Even more troublingly, it was also found guilty of falsifying documents and destroying records. And as expert labs continued their forensic work through the week, the ancestry of this latest strain of flu and its connection with modern intensive pig farming in general if not with any farm in particular was established. By Wednesday night the reason why scientists had pressed the full flu alert button even though only a few hundred cases outside Mexico, almost all mild at that point, had appeared, also became clearer. At CDC the head of virology had completed the genetic fingerprinting of the swine flu and was able to say that it has arisen from a strain first identified on industrial pig units in North Carolina in the late 1990s. It is no coincidence that this threat to global human health should have emerged from that particular state, as Michael Greger, director of public health at the U.S. Humane Society and leading author on the history of bird and animal flu explains: "North Carolina has the densest pig population in North America and boasts more than twice as many corporate swine mega-factories as any other state. With massive concentrations of farm animals within which to mutate, these new swine flu viruses in North America seem to be on an evolutionary fast track, jumping and reassorting between species at an unprecedented rate." Novel human disease is the toxic debt of today's industrial livestock farming. The influenza virus has eight genetic segments. If two different types of flu infect the same cell at the same time, the genes from both viruses mix, swapping segments to form totally new hybrids. In Mexico as in many poorer countries, industrial pig and poultry farms are increasingly sited close to crowded urban populations, making simultaneous infection by different flu strains more likely. The 1918 flu pandemic was an H1N1 strain and was a kind of bird flu new to humans so they had no immunity to it. It killed at least 50 million people as it raged around the world in less than a year. The 1918 H1N1 strain passed from humans to pigs, and became the dominant form of flu among pigs, albeit one that evolved into a fairly mild strain. But then in 1998 there was an explosive new outbreak of swine flu in a factory farm in North Carolina that made thousands of pigs ill. The virus had evolved into a triple hybrid that had never been seen before, containing gene segments from bird, human and swine flu. It had found the ideal breeding ground. Pigs, whose immune systems were suppressed by the stress of crowding and fast feeding, and kept confined indoors, were perfect disease incubators for flu whose preferred method of transmission is virus-infected aerosol droplets, expelled by the million in the hog's famous barking cough. Thanks to the modern practice of transporting live animals, the new virus spread rapidly through pig herds around the country. Six of the eight genetic segments of today's swine flu outbreak isolated by CDC experts can be traced back to the triple hybrid from North Carolina. Factory animal farming has developed as a giant ecological credit bubble. It has delivered enormous growth in global meat production over the last three decades. Consumers have happily bought its cheap products just as they gobbled up the freely-offered loans of the financial boom without asking too closely how such consumption could be sustained or what the eventual consequences might be. Swine flu should make us question that complacency. Jan Slingenbergh, a senior animal health officer at the FAO believes the precise final evolution of the current virus may never be found. "We don't know, but what is most likely is that a human was infected by a common flu virus and at the same time with a second virus which had elements probably from pigs and they mixed to form a new virus. The last bit of human mixing probably took place around mid-March in Mexico." Slingenbergh is sceptical that a link will be found to the Granjas Carroll factory. The current virus may now progress as a mild strain and die down or it may mutate and evolve further to become more virulent. The reason experts have invested so much effort in preparing for a flu pandemic and are taking this one so seriously, is that these rapidly evolving strains that mix bird, pig and human forms could throw up a particularly deadly variety. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2009

The Hindu, 4th May 2009