A disaster has shaken the whole of Kerala, the "God's Own Country". A state so far not affected hugely by any natural disasters for a very long time, except for the tsunami that affected coastal areas in the last decade.

Rains, at some places about 447% higher than previous years. In a state where dams didn't have enough water that the electricity board used to cut electricity daily for 1 hour since water was deficient for Hydroelectricity production. Now, the dams have got water more than the safety level that has led to dams being opened (if not, it could overflow and destroy the dam itself). 15 lakh (1.5 million) litres of water flow every second from one of those opened dams.

Imagine the destruction created.

Roads have flooded. Houses, hospitals, public places, airports have got flooded. Some places it has already covered the ground floor. Ten thousands of people have relocated to shelter camps in their cities and some are stuck at their homes unable to escape. No electricity, no mobile network, no charge, no food, they don't know how they will escape, especially those who stay in remote areas. 

The Kochi airport is flooded. Services have been suspended till Aug 26th. The solar panel field which powered the entire airport is under water. 

The public transport services, especially the Indian Railways, in Kerala has also been suspended due to water flooding the tracks.

The rains have led to landslides too. The total death count in just two days have come to about 91. 

Being as environmentalists and advocates, its essential we know about Natural Disasters as well, especially the most recent ones. What control measures can be taken, the precautions, etc.

As water levels rised in the dams, the government started opening shutters of the dams since no other option remained. But they evacuated people in those nearby areas of the dam.

Also, various units of Army, Navy and Fireforce, Disaster Management team, Police, etc are working 24x7 to facilitate rescue procedures, etc.

There are many reasons as to why such a fury was lashed out by Nature. One could be reclamation of land from water bodies which led to shrinking of water bodies or natural passages through which rain water ought to flow.

Also, drainages for rain passage in cities, etc of some places are clogged by plastics and waste, etc. It could be the climate change too.

In a state like Kerala, where development and Human Development Indexes are at par with developed countries, a disaster like this has endangered human life and livelihood, with losses more than 8000 crore rupees (80 billion rupees or >1 billion USD).

People all around the world are requested to join hands and to rescue Kerala from this disaster and the CM(Chief Minister) has opened an online fund donation drive. You can donate to the CM's Disaster Relief Fund.

Inviting all of you to join and contribute to https://keralarescue.in/reg_contrib/ .

Images:

1) https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/16/asia/india-kerala-floods-intl/index.html

2) https://www.indiantribune.com/kerala-rain-flood-updates

3) https://www.indiatoday.in/india/photo/kerala-floods-rain-kochi-airport-shut-down-1316186-2018-08-16