India comprises a long coastline; large low-lying areas, including flood plains and deltas; fragile mountainous terrain; and active earthquake zones. And as evidenced by the recent flooding, the Gujarat earthquake in , the Indian Ocean tsunami in , the Kashmir earthquake in , the Ladakh flash floods in , and the Sikkim earthquake in , the military is heavily relied upon , perhaps overly so, in natural disaster response.
Environmental change could also have more direct effects on the military. Land routes could open up in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and along the line of control with Pakistan — do they need to be guarded? The Indian Ocean region is extremely vulnerable to changing climate patterns such as rising sea levels and changes in water temperature — how will these changes alter naval battlegrounds?
The Indian military is exceedingly dependent on external energy sources — is that a vulnerability, and can new energy technologies help mitigate any weakness? How vulnerable is critical military and energy infrastructure? To answer these questions, there is dire need for long-range, strategic planning that would assess the risks of environmental change in India.
The military is yet again expected to step up, as it has the best available expertise in disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, relief, and recovery in the country.
But the armed forces would do well to also look inwards and determine how these changes will affect its mission and operations and whether its current rapid response role is sustainable.
It would be worthwhile to require every government agency or department, including the armed forces, to conform to a carbon budget. Such an initiative would spur improved efficiency in existing hardware and help improve the use of renewable energy technologies in the armed forces, which would not only help the military adapt to the changing environment but reduce their footprint as well. Disasters are to happen and none can do anything about it. But efforts of the Indian army with the other forces who have taken risk ,have done a work which is praise worthy but still the nation needs to do some homework.
May the injured recover soon. While attributing the heavy rains to the climate crisis, experts have also cited hydro-power projects in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, and excessive and often unchecked construction on steep slopes which cause damage to the region's fragile ecology. Experts also say higher temperatures have meant lesser snow in the Himalayas - and this, coupled with heavy rains, is pushing large volumes of water downstream, triggering flash floods.
The southern coastal state of Kerala has also seen heavy rain since Friday. Thousands of people have been moved to safety, with more than 1, homes destroyed or damaged. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Image source, Getty Images. They extensively filmed the events of that day, broadcasting it in real time. Dan Shugar at the University of Calgary in Canada and his colleagues used satellite images and sensor data to trace the source of the flood and found that it was triggered by an avalanche consisting of about 80 per cent bedrock and 20 per cent glacier ice that dropped almost 2 kilometres to the valley below, then continued travelling down, picking up trees and other debris along the way.
Journal reference: Science , DOI:
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