It’s been a year of natural disaster and train accidents for India. First it was the devastating tsunami, *which took the entire southern India by shock and surprise. The loss was enormous. Most of the coastal areas were eroded off. The entire nation mourned and stood together for the rehabilitation work. Great helping hands were given globally too. Now it’s the monsoon in Mumbai. *
Rain is always associated with happiness and considered a pleasure to experience it. Personally I enjoy rain. But too much of anything is always dangerous. As by a famous quoting
“ She waits for me, my lady Earth, smiles and waits and sighs; I’ll say her nay, and hide away, then take her by surprise “
, very true we were all taken by surprise. It is a common that it always rains heavily in Mumbai during the monsoon, but this time a record breaking 940 millimeter of rain. The monsoon rain completely paralyzed the entire city and state for three days(July 27, 28 and 29th).
It is a very sad state. The heavy down pour for a continuous 24 hrs totally brought a stand still to the very fast paced city. All forms of transportation ceased from functioning. The roads were flooded with water, the level raised to chest heights and most of the vehicles started floating. Railways tracks were totally submerged and the airport was flooded making national and international flights to be cancelled and delayed indefinitely. There was total chaos everywhere.
Traffic was jammed for a huge stretch. It was immobile for literally 8 to 10 hrs. Office goers were all stuck in the middle of the road while returning home. People had to spend the entire night in their cars and buses. One of my friends spent 8 hrs in the public bus with the bus sailing through 100m for about 2hrs. Most of the low level areas were completely submerged. The rain had caused several landslides too. There was a huge loss of life. The death toll has reached a staggering thousand in Maharashtra were about 420 are from Mumbai.
Three days of heavy rain has seen our commercial capital experiencing trauma as never before. All working bodies schools, offices, management organizations have all been declared holidays. The bollywood industry has halted their shooting and the cinema halls have been badly hit, with very few visiting them. Health workers are busy distributing disinfectants and medicines to prevent water borne diseases. Transportation is slowly improving with trains starting to function but with very few frequencies. The e two airports have opened but only few flights took off. Electricity and drinking water have been slowly restored.
Such natural disasters are highly unpredictable. It creates huge panic among the public and huge responsibility is thrust upon the government to handle them. First it should make sure that the present situation doesn’t worsens, that no further damage of life occurs. Evacuation of people lying in low-level areas, and worst hit areas to safer areas must be done. Then the basic amenities of food and shelter have to be arranged. After, the initial cautions relief work has to be started. Medical assistance has to be provided. All this cant happen in a fraction of a second, it will take some time to happen as everything ahs certain formalities to furnish. The entire nation has to join hands and work for the relief. The most important thing is that the opposition parties mustn’t politicize these issues. They shouldn’t find fault with the relief work of the ruling government. It sadly happened in the case of Tsunami in Tamil Nadu, which looked very cheap. Such disasters are a case of sympathy and misery and not a loophole to jump on the heads of the governing body.