8. Hybrid Di 0. fil | 12 ions Center (EOC) ‘, Guidel in in Maharashtra [1. INTRODUCTION Indian sub-contine Disasters ov 'g to the The occurrence of disa: nt is susceptible to different types and Natural unique topographical and climatic characteristics, sters along with the losses over the years has been Ea of en\Is and Dealing with Disast concept Ettects one ") mn rer $I gevostating Floods in Mumbai in 2005 and many more in the past. This eves not only 10 the physical vulnerability i.e, their proximity to the ow'ed zone and ill-maintained standards of safety to counter the effects ¢ to the prevailing social and economic conditions : a conscious effort for Disaster Risk Reduction at ional, Provincial and Sub-provincial level, There is an urgent need of ‘an organisation and common platform to capture, organize and share this knowledge and to create a versatile interface among policy-makers in the = ent and disaster managers at all administrative levels, Ge —_— fp._CoNc ‘EPT OF DISASTER Disaster refers to loss of data which cannot be recovered. The word spister’ came into English language in the 16" century through the French ‘Desastre’. Disaster is the impact of a natural or man-made event that negatively affect life, property, livelihood often resulting in permanent changes in human societies, ecosystems and environment. Disaster is an event which strikes quickly and changes the lives all that it touches. TYPES OF DISASTER a A. Natural B. Man-made C. Hybrid i) Earthquakes i) Nuclear accidents i) Destruction of Forest ii) Tsunami ii)Forest Fires ii) Oil Leakage iii) Volcano iii) Chemical iii) Oil spill iv) Floods ¥) Droughts vi) Cyclones vii) Avalanches A. Natural Disasters The natural disasters are the result of some natural phen‘ quakes, Volcanic eruptions, Floods, Droughts, Cyclones. ofsuch natural disasters is very.15 (F-C) (S-¥.B.Com, | issue’ cone? anes between rae ink bet wl i eee were i 8 ton, flood, ons a 4 station, c Hybrid a occur wg ay sero) Hybrid gated events. —— many @ ed A eal Tied ott ( mates ¢ é wi t PS HUM 1 parts of the w cae | 2 Ww Pas peonle oa si disasters. Disast ay Ne F 2 Seen ri iat m eee ry year, ment © made Of Ne a drought ae of Prok p> : " ural, S, 5 0! ¥ affected by nat noes, cyclones heavy loss ial, economic Ps earthquake, A yates ee physical, social, becom : : ; ral i ‘ distractive Seder ‘occurs ae unemF ote Aiea impact on human le act a oO a sye ople ure Physical Effects + Generally several peop! a ju . For example, in a) Physical Inj Aegina Senne cable ween » E inne in Gujarat about 17 I Over 30,000 people a ec i 3 , 903 there was earthquakes in Lat desta c facili ub ts or : Deaths: Disses like earthquake, floods, oi “3 dister storm can result in death of several people. ae seriou india, the highest ever death toll was recorded in 1 a their] in Bengal. About 10 million people died in this famine. ; in 1970 in west Bengal killed about 5 lakh people. Mor a 5,000 people loss their lives in 1999 cyclone in Orissa. ay ii) Spread of Diseases Disasters like floods, After floods, waterborn dis diseases like malaria. A\ vulnerable to waterborn After floods, cyclones and droughts there j. tremendous | fsriculture and forest products. ang there ig ao f food lack of nutrition; Spread of hunger, In such affected on * people bec Most vulnerable to many dis. % 2 What are the physical tii) Social Effects 4) Social Evils diseases in disasters Cyclones may also lead to spread of d seases like diarrhea and cholera and veeto fter these disasters Public health becom and vectorborn diseases, eases, effects Of disasters>concept fects and Dealing with Disasters tan aes. in search of employment. Ve Irpeult to get employment in short period. Bios may commit robberies and even murders to get santas cial Relations 3: Moat Of the’ Uivantety afteet lesen TE or ed people. Survivors may loose ther friends, relatives, Goce pats ete on account of disasters, This may affect their fe and anes siress related symptons. ©) Manmade Disasters : Manmade di res 53 Ty often it becomes very disters like communial riots ‘ony. There is widespread violence, lose may 7 ofproperty and loss of many lives. d) Social Evils : Displaced people when move to urban areas, it becomes difficult to get jobs in short period. Therefore, these unemployed persons may involved in robberies and in extreme cases even murders for their livelihood, ig What are the social effects of disasters? iv) Economic Effects a) Unemployment and Economic Losses : After disaster due to destruction of infrastructure like damage industries, fields, transportation facilities, people might remain unemployed for short term. During isters, some people may remain unemployed for long time due to | serious physical injuries or they may not get employment at all during their lifetime. Thus, disasters causes economic'locesses, b) Economic losses due to loss of Property : Most of the disasters, like earthquakes, floods cyclones results in loss of property, Which may be difficult to recover by the disaster affected people. For example people affected by disasters may loss their valuables gold, cash “lc. or dister like floods, soil fertility may get adversely affected and then Ssriculture becomes difficult and such people loose their source of income, seat ©) Economic loss due death of earning member sa of earning member in the family, surviving i 9on es awe wesw wy WARD Te ee Briefly explain the different goals of disaster mitigation? Poors ee tigation? 5 a =| BASIC TERMINOLOGY ee JGATION, PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE AND RECOVERY @ Mitigation : Mitigation efforts are atte: from developing into disasters Ps ccttet Seen effects of disasters. It is an effort to reduce loss of life Zz property by lessening the impact of disasters. It focuses on| longterm measures for reducing or eliminating risk. @ Preparedness : Preparedness is how we change behavior to ~~ limit the impact of disaster events on people. It is a continuous cycle of planning, managing, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, creating, evaluating, monitoring and improving activities to ensure effective co-ordination and the enhancement of capability of concerned organisations to protect against respond to, recover from create and mitigate ffects of disaster .concerned with actions that involve rebut property, re-employment, and repair of oll infrastructure. 6.__ EFFECTS AND MITIGATION OF NATURAL DISASTERS _| 6.1 Earthquakes . Earthquakes are those movements of the Earth’s crust which make ground vibrate and shake backwards and forwards. a) Loss of Lives : Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters that have killed more than 400 thousand people | world wide. On September 30, 1993 at Latur in Maharashtra | killed more than 7,000 people and 16,000 people were injured, on January 26th, earthquake at Bhuj in Gujarat killed more than 19,000 people and 1.66 lakh were seriously wounded. b) Economic Loss : Between 1970 and 1990, earthquakes in different parts in the world caused overall economic losses estimated at $ 65 billion. ©) Loss of Properties : Earthquakes cause violent ground motion accompanied with fracturing, which can lead to collapse of large number of buildings, dams, bridges and tunnels. 1993 Latur earthquake in Maharashtra, over 30,000 ie = Sesto’ and Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat, about 3.48 aa jt dd jouses were destroyed and 8.44 lakh houses damaged. Tsunami can cause ii i es ; to life and property, panes aaa ‘" Bd bring massive toss | Loh ham are as follows:Concept Etfects and Dealing with Disasters A 57 a) Physical Damage : The floodin ; : affects human settlements, ent pet ieee houses roads, bridges and of facilities, boats, fishing nets ete, Environmenta Damage : There are evidences of ever- increasing impact of tsunami upon the environment. Tsunami generates, tons of debris on account of structural collapse of weaker buildings, release of toxic chemicals into environment on account of chemical leak, etc, have negative impact on the already fragile ecosystem, Casualties : Tsunami attacks the sea-shore like a water bomb. Many people are washed out to sea or crushed by the giant waves, Public Heath : Sewage pipes and drinking water pipelines may be damaged by tsunami. Damage to pipelines of drinking water causes shortage of drinking water. Open wells and groundwater may become unfit for drinking due to contamination of salt water and debris. Contamination leads to spread of many water- borne diseases. Impact on Standing Crops : Flooding by tsunami causes damage to the standing crops and also to food supplies. The agricultural land in the coastal area may rendered infertile due to salt-water from the sea. What are the effects of Earthquake and Tsunami? Earthquakes and Tsunamis a) Rick Reduction and Measures © Hazard mapping © Public awareness programmes © Assessment and reduction of structu © Land use control or zoning buildin © Insurance By Erepareciness Measuresaos Contemporary isues (F.C) (S.¥.8.Comy lon 58 ©) Post Disaster Needs A @ Search and rescue operations. % @ Distribution of food and drinking water to carthquay, sn tsunami affected people. Al @ Emergency medical assistance. th © Survey on damage needs. fr © Relief assistance, e Reconstruction and rehabilitation 10.” Sugeest various measures t0 be taken, before, during and after artim) and tsunami | —} Some Do’s and Don’ts The government of India on the occasion issued some useful Do's and Don'ts for the people in the earthquake Prone, flood ~ prone ang cyclone — prone areas. Earthquake ~ Some Do’s and Don’ts | Immediate Actions | a) Indoors © Do not rush outside, get your family into doorways, under tables, or, if they are bedridden, under their beds; keep away from windows and chimneys, b) Outdoors © Keep clear of buildings, high wall: i i wires. Do not re-enter rates tales aneling clectic ©) While Driving © If you feel the earthquake when riding : ig ina the driver to pull over and stop. Stay inside the venice As soon as can; © Put out all domestic fires and turn off heaters, © Tum off electricity, as and water, if the house is © Leave the house ifa fire Starts that cannot be © Leave the house if a gas leak is detected after the off. Save water. Fill all emergency containers, Free pets and domestic animals (dogs, cats and cattle.)= 6.3 Floods ti During the rainy season when the amount of water eae river inundates wide spread are on the sides of channel. i" phenomenon is called flood. Increase in population combined with poor resource management has resulted in conversion of forests into pastures and arable land. Due to deforestation, floods have become more frequent and severe. Some of the effects of floods are as follows : a) Loss of Lives and Shelter : Major floods kill thousands of People all over the world especially in the developing countries, | Between 1960-90 severe floods caused 65,000 deaths worldwide. 78 percent of the total deaths from floods occur in Bangladesh, China, Columbia, India and Pakistan. b) Loss of Agriculture : In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and west Bengal every year thousands of hectares of farmland destroy paddy and wheat crops. ©) Threat to Public Health : Flood to overflow. Sewage water gets water like water tanks, lakes a threat of water-borne diseases water causes the sewage system mixed wit Ss of drinkii =a) b) Preparedness Measures ) 61 Rick Reduction and Measures © To control flood cons “ruction of channels, dykes dams ete, @ Detection of floods and warning systems, @ Community participation and education, @ Development of Proper plan for f lai lood plain Post-Disaster Needs Plain management. Search and rescue operations Disaster assessment Supply of food and drinking water Water purification Temporary shelter Arrange vaccination Programmes to control diseases like cholera diarrhea and jaundice 14. Suggest some measures to be taken, before, during and. after floods. Flood - Some Do’s and Don’ts e e Listen to the radio for advance information and advice Disconnect all electrical appliances and move all valuable Personal and household goods and clothing out of reach of flood water, if you are warmed or if you s t Ne may reach the house. Move vehicles, farm animals and mo round nearby. a Prevent dangerous pollution — move of the water, il Tum off electricity, gas if you have 1 Lock he= _ ] Contemporary Issues ~ m (F.C) (S-¥-B.Com.) ton cont 62 ; aa in relation to the increasing needs of the cae da has becon, a point of great concern, especially 00 the fo wai Ret | Droughts are the re water shortage @ * z a my extended periods of time al ‘ous human activi! ies and lead, many problems. ‘Some of the major effects i) Loss of Agriculture follows : where the immedig, ith increased intensiy 6.6 c of droughts are as : One of the sectors felt is agriculture wi impact of drought is ed imparted duration of drought prevalence, a significant reg) c in crop losses. destru! ii) Food supply : In drought prone area, there is significant fall, perce? food production; which leads to short supply or fall in foy cyclon production; which leads to short supply food, starvation ar A __ undernourishment. gradiet iti) Other effects : @ Deficit in ground water recharge. pressu © Non availability of quality seeds. km to . ae degradation. follow: ‘all in investment capacity of farmers. a) @ Rise in food pri grains trade. prices and reduced f¢ © Loss of biomass, © Death of animals,cept Effects and Dealing with Disasters onet @ Employment creation Programmes, Proper food distribution system, Special programme for livestock, Supplementary feeding Programme, Rehabilitation and health Programme for affected People. during and. after Droughts? Cyclones of diameter of 600 km or More is one of the most structive and dangerous atmospheric Storms on the earth. With 6 nt of the world wide cyclones, the Indian sub-continent is the worst ione affected areas. A tropical cyclone can form when the horizontal temperature dients are exceedingly high around a weakly developed area of low essure. The cyclone moves forward at an average speed of about 20 km to few hundred km. per hour. Some of the effects of cyclone are as follows : a) On coastal Areas : Cyclones are associated with high pressure gradients and consequent strong winds. ‘These in turn, generate strong surges. A strong surge is an-al normal rise of sea level near the coast caused by severe tropical cyclone; as a result, sea_ water inundates low lying areas of coa gion y human beings and _ livestock, embankments, destroying vegetation b) Loss of Property and Life : Very t dwellings, communication systems, tre of life and property. ©) Epidemics : Heavy and prolonged rai Cause river floods and submergence of lo due to storm surges pollute drinking wé animal and rotting food causinga www Contemporary ssves =I (F.C.) (S.¥-8-COM-) (Semis 6.7 Cyclones a a) Pre Disaster Measures © Planting wind-breaker trees along the coast. © Construction of embankments along the coast. © Construction of storm shelters. © Construction of proper drainage oa to drain excess water o heavy rain, ; G © Construction of roads for quick evacuation. ‘ © Development of radio/siren system to give carly warningy| 6.1 storm. @ Mapping path of cyclone storm. a oc © Public awareness programmes and training. sn b) Post Disaster Measures Start Search and rescue operations immediately. BH Provide emergency medical assistance. Conduct assessment survey on damage and needs. Provide relief assistance. Arrange for short — term food and water supply. Provide temporary ~ shelter. ‘8. Suggest various measures to be taken, before, during and after cyclone. Cyclone ~ Some Do’s and Don’ts - © Listen to the radio for advance information an considerable margin for safety. A cyck direction, Speed or intensity within a few hour the radio for updated information, a a) If the strong force wi aor is winds or severe gales are fo © Store or secure loose boards, corn ugated j anything else that could become dangerous, Tape up large windows to preveconcept Effects and Dealing with Disasters rr 65 @ Open windows on the sheltered side of the house if the roof begins to lift. @ Find shelter if you are caught out in the open. ® Do not go outside or to a beach during a lull in the storm. Cyclones are often accompanied by large storm surges from the ocean or lakes. 19. Wh, | What are some useful Do's and Don'ts suggested bythe er a India during disasters like earthquakes, floods, and cyclones:tay Saar ov oyt ery tveu auu rail LINKS, 0. Suggest various measures to be taken, for safety in avalanch, es region. The use of radio-isotopes in industries, research, medical facilities and use of radioactive minerals in atomic power stations have accounted8 for a significant number “@ (S.Y.B.Com.) (Se | porary | issues - Ill A ( m radiation exposure. In th, d considerably. The his 22 Contemt of causalities fro’ dents have increase last thirty years, these accit sy nuclear power stations pose th ae toxic radioactive wastes Se Eel leclear power plants. | Sa aie fe radio nuclides released tO th shen Large quantity of long-Ihe and settle down with raim a atmosphere get distributed boise eae 7, posited in human ‘ba a ix with soil, water, vegetation. ‘ K oan ib are sure to radiate internally for aes the wholly prai span of an individual. Some of the important effects of nucl ident, are as follows : wees ne a) Nuclear accidents are responsible for the majority of deaths, proc b) They are responsible for over exposures to radiation. cost c) Exposure to Ultra Violet (UV) radiation increases risk | the} cataracts and skin cancer. Ultraviolet light may also cause harm indirectly by contributing to an increase in the ozone in the atmosphere. d) co} What are the effects of Nuclear Accidents? a) Risk Reduction Measures © Development of plans for awareness, Preparedness for emergency at local level. © Improve community awareness, Improve , about installation and aid with help of technical pe b) Preparedness Measures @ Hazard mapping. © Identification of hazardous material, © Inspection of storage facilities. © Improving firefighting facilities © Monitoring Pollution levels, © Practicing of evacuation plans © Testing warning systems, Post Disaster Needs ,cept Effects and Dealing with Disasters con it various measures to be taken, i. e ia nt jaents in Chemical Industries The world today produces chemical More than 50,000 chemicals. are abate than it can pets. These chemicals include extremely toxie oil iOMS OF different oee allergies, damage extremely vita organ oe pain, liver kidney and reproductive organs,” NUMA" body like eye, The use of chemicals Brows in prod ily His ers, flavouring and colouring pekinese he cucu and packaged foods from milk to tomato sai oe ics and manufacturing drugs pose threat to human health Some ae important effects of accidents in chemical industry are se et a) Breathing in of toxic chemicals destroys rh leading to respiratory problems. isthe ey sses the immunity. ‘ace b) Exposure to some chemicals ‘suppres ©) Most industrial chemical are corrosive, thus irritate or break the skin or the first line of defence. d) Air, water and soil pollution when toxic chemicals are released from chemical industries. e) Water is an important source of chemical hazards. Leaching of lead from water supply pipe can be harmful to neurological functions. f) Leaching from solid hazardous wé substances that may contami 72 Chemical Industry a) Risk Reduction Measures © Analyse the chemicals us identify their —_differer correspondently _ institutio chemicals. :> = (F.C) (S.¥.B:COM)) (Sem, grerens _ cotenoany ee | er 100 must have loc vere by The works Fi ndoor, to,avoid, wans(orming a7 aay cena cea personal protective equipm: ey tly infect home : ©) Post Disaster Needs © Enclose the source of hazard. @ Isolate the object. @ Substitute with other chemicals and advance technology. e Process involved in production must be assessed for riskg order to set controls wherever necessary. % 24. Suggest various measures to be taken before, during ony chemical industry. i HYBRID DISASTERS ] 8.1 Destruction of Forest According to the United States National Academy of Sciences 5) million acres of forests are destroyed or seriously degraded every year. Every day about 90 acres of forest land is destroyed. Forests are threatened by a combination of factors including : © Agricultural expansion. © Commercial harvesting, © Increased demand for firewood collection, © Heavy livestock grazing e as Accelerated Urbanisation and Industrialisation, © Increasing demand for wood products : © Large scale oil explo ; ae of the important e| ‘orest deforestati meas climatic changes, ''S # Soil loss, b) i ) e anaszanaD There is loss of. rich Destructi and bountiful habi genetic ae of our forest destroys Animal Husbandry, MWSS| Department, Railways etc, 3concept Effects and Dealing with Disasters rrr 79 To develop a set of training modules and case studies on disaster management; and To develop disaster preparedness and capacity building through preparation of district disaster management plans. Under 1996 Disaster Management Council’s mandate, the Government of Maharashtra prepared a plan, which involves. © Scrutinising disasters like earthquakes floods, cyclones, epidemics, road accidents, industrial and chemical accidents and fires, © Estimating their footprint and reach, © Listing down the monitoring facilities and regulatory regimes, © Tracing the counter measures available to handle the disaster. Visit us at http://envis.maharashtra.g ov.in QUESTIONSBe Oil spill off Mumbai Coast — CASE STUDY - 1 THE SEPTEMBER 29, 1993 KILLARI EARTHQUAKE IN CENTRAL MAHARASHTRA Most of the world seismicity is concentrated along the plate boundaries, However, a significant number of earthquakes, including some large an damaging ones, do occur within the plates. Our understanding of intracratoniy semismogenisis and the hazard it entails is poor, in parts because data is scarce, The 1993 Killari earthquake in Central Peninsular India is the latest intracratonic event to be responsible for a large disaster. The positive side of this tragedy is that it will provide new insights into geologic engineering and cultural factors that control the distribution and degree of damage, which wi aid in turn the development of some more effective hazard reduction programme for peninsular India. India report summarises our observations during a ten-day investigation of the 1993 Killari earthquake. Several aspects of the earthquake were investigated,se studies of Disasters the surface ry jpg fromthe pture and angie (0 engineered and traditional it = monstruction efforts following the carthquake bra generally relevant f0 earthquake hazard ong Uti briefly discussed. ‘on in tradi The affected knows only natural disaster ig took the people and administration by pes ay oie 4 days to effectively organise rescue and relief operations, Of all the villages devastated by wireless connection with the di minutes, the information about lari Latur and from there to the state headquarter at Mumbai. aie Immediately, about 20 policemen stationed at Ausa 28 km from Killari, tushed to Killari, followed by District Collector. About 50 Policemen were also dispatched from Latur. Immediate search and rescue was conducted by the survivors and limited police rescue teams. ‘As a day progressed, information about equ nearby villages started reaching Killari. By early next morning i.e. 18 October, and rescue. By the afternoon of the day of the ez arrived in the area. This led to traffic jar and rescue, J On October 2, entry to the affected only to government personnel and men The task of search and rescue became tains; which immediately followed Quantities of the nwat Contemporury mm-=- = = | ted up to . a ‘ 82 ime, the newspapers Sea ok aa overeat about 9,000 fatalities are Later discover injured i htra wi ecovery id : The number of injured pei vas en = Medical Ai v, s of doctors were working. o ie ‘About 50 mobile team: gee 125 * : wert in nearl hi howe = 4 Petoa other hand, the rural ee aaa and het agai is 60 km, from Latur had 510 bed capacity. hospit : Cooked food was provided in the affected = nal Rr by large number of voluntary agencies and the amy After 15 days the community kitchens were closed. Enough Tations and otf, provisions to last a month were provided to the people, requiring them to cog their own foods. After earthquake, water was trucked into the region. Generally each village was assigned a truck. Drinking water was supplied regularly by water storage tanks which were donated by UNICEF / CARE were used for storing water in villages. Resettlement and Housing Fed net of villages which: were totally “destroyed. Ere ey telocated to places far away. Every affected family Sl be mora oh bees unit with a covered area of 20, 40 or 60 eters area 45 square meters for animal shelters, a me stoney me Communication : An excellent the earthquake. Initially, a number of In Latur, Solar most of the bigger villages, ut dissipated on 3rd November, 1999, A tropical depression formed moved to the northwest a continued to strenINDIAN Tens of thousands of families from the coastal districts of B Kendrapara, Puri, Jagatsingpur and Ganjam; we Secuate their homes before the arrival of the storm, ‘ok shelter in twenty three Red Cross Cyclone Shelte The Impact The cyclone dumped heavy torrential rain ove stad breaking flooding in the low-lying areas. ies the coast of Orissa, traveling up to 20 km. ne icenoyed and an additional 90 million peop POximately 2,75,000 homes were destro Sone 88. Another 19.5 million people others ame degree. 4 9803 people officContemporary Issus 5 ~~, ens baal, ra tye ov True, it was an unprecedented rainfall — ¥ cig ta nee ried they of! Mima leaving * re 3 it wake. Boe Rata be acces Soe ‘Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who chose to shelter behi in avain attempt to absolve his administration of a blame. lige Was not unparalleled in its crippi effect. after season, Mumbai’s creaking infrastructure caves in ae oe ng nO laced_ studies of Disasters ‘This deplorable situation would have been foryi in rs i ; a backwater outpost served by a municipality Sire ee had the fact is — at the ‘isk of Testating the obvious" ttl 437-71 ee of 18 million is home 4 both the National tnd the Bombay tisck its seaports dominate intemationa trade, while its airport handles 40, cent of India’s international and 25 per cent of India’ 3 ent of dome: s nt of India’s international and 25 cent of ¢ Sarees , pal corporation, iblished in 1972, is India’s richest civie body, with its t ivaling Hose of several smaller states, Dh ats Sa eae It is unpardonable that in this day and age, a city like Mumbai can be syashed away so ruthlessly when other coastal cities the world over are far better ipped to drain away the rainwater into the sea regardless of the tidal ‘movements. In Mumbai's instance, a high tide alone could scarcely have duced floodwaters at levels of five and six feet. Besides, south Mumbai, Nargcly with British built infrastructure, rarely floods. In fact, bus passengers jcavght in the risking waters sought refuge on the roofs for 12 to 15 hours }without any assistance forthcoming. Authorities reportedly also did not deploy flatable craft stored away in godowns, though low-lying areas like Kalina, fakola and even the newly-created central business district of Bandra~Kurla re engulfed by floods a storey high. To make matters worse, electricity supply was switched off by Reliance gy in the northern suburbs that it serves. Lack of coordination by the ent officials did little to help the situation. This aggravated the plight of — people enormously, with even hospitals plunged into darkness for as many as three days. Relatives needed to identify the bodies of their kin in candlelight _ d with no airconditioning, the stench was overpowering. Anti-social elements — advantage of the darkness, looting homes fled by the flood-stricken. escue operations at the various landslides across the city. It. In fact, 18 more — 10 of them children — perished'a day af had had their nerves already on edge and it required bu fagedy to unfold. Though the mobile network did get over loaded,a al 90 a's Contemporary Issues = Ill (F.C.) (S.Y.B.Com.) (Sem.y Officially, the material damage over these rain—lashed days has been evaluated at * 2,000 crore, but this seems a gross underestimate, Besides, families and neighbourhoods have been scarred for life, one 14 year old slum- dweller, for instance, having lost his parents, brother, three sisters and three nephews in a landslide on a cliff where no slums should have been permitted in the first place. Thousands have been settled in the reserved forests of the Borivli national park in north-west Mumbai as also adjacent to the international airport with space elsewhere at a premium. A focused city-state administration would have set the course for Mumbai’s transformation into a global outpost and ring- fenced it from the depredations of state governments that have viewed it little more than a cash cow. } It was the fabled tenacity of the Mumbai citizens that helped them fend f themselves during the monsoon onslaught, when the law enfore i vanished from the scene when they were needed most, whil were stranded on the roads, at railway stations, the airport schools. While the rail, road and air transport, electricity telephone lines and even the Interne gave up their gh ’ hordes battled out their strain and even found time to hel camped it out for two days at their offices, while their chil their schools. Many roadside provision stores offered free f¢ affected and certain mineral water companies distributed rd re ee