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The total geographical area of Uttar Pradesh
is 240.93 lakh hectares. Recurring natural disasters in the State over the
years have been causing severe damage and adversely affecting human, plant
and animal life, property and environment. Natural disasters that are of
significance in Uttar Pradesh are –
Floods, Droughts, Fires and Earthquakes. Loss of life and property from
these disasters, especially the former three, are in terms of hundreds of
crores of rupees annually. Considerable efforts are made every year, both by
the government and the public, to mitigate the losses encountered during a
disaster. But recurring floods ,droughts and fires have been pointers to the
manifestation of increased vulnerabilities and inadequacy of the various
sporadic mitigation measures attempted. The emerging context is an increase
in frequency of disasters, their escalating cost, rising levels of
vulnerability, narrowing differences between natural & manmade disasters
amidst an increasingly fragile environment. This underscores the dire need
for a holistic approach to dovetail mitigation efforts with development
programmes in the State. Emergency preparedness is crucial for recovery from
disasters with minimal loss of life and property.
Hazard Vulnerability in UP
·
Approx. 27 lakh hectares
affected annually due to Floods
·
Annual estimated loss due to
floods is Rs. 432 crores.
·
The recurrence period of highly
deficient rainfall in East U.P. has been calculated to be 6 to 8 years
whereas in West U.P. it is 10 years
·
In the recent years, the year
2002, & 2004 were severe in terms of drought, with loss to crop, livestock
and property assessed at Rs.7540 crores and Rs. 7292 crores respectively.
·
The Terai belt districts of UP
and entire districts of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bagpat, Bijnor, Meerut,
Ghaziabad, Gautambuddh Nagar, JP Nagar, Rampur, Moradabad, Bulandshahr in
western UP are in the Earthquake High Damage Risk Zone-IV
·
The following are the Weak Zones In the State-may be termed as trigger
points:
Ridges
·
Delhi-Haridwar Ridge
·
Delhi Muzaffarnagar Ridge
·
Faizabad Ridge
Faults
·
Moradabad Fault
·
Bhairawan Fault
·
East-West Running Tear Faculty
Floods:
Of the various natural disasters floods are the most commonly occurring in
Uttar Pradesh, affecting almost every year some part of the state or the
other. Important rivers, which create floods in the State, are the Ganga,
the Yamuna, the Ramganga, the Gomti, the Sharda, the Ghaghra, the Rapti and
the Gandak. The Ganga River basin of U.P. experiences normal rainfall in the
region from 60 cm to 190 cm of which more than 80% occur during the
southwest monsoon. The rainfall increases from west to east and from south
to north .Similar is the pattern of floods ,the problem increases from west
to east and south to north. Out of the 240.93 lakh hectares geographical
area of the State about 73.06 lakh hectares is flood prone. As per the
Irrigation Department’s estimate, only 58.72 lakh can actually be protected.
Up to March 2004, only 16.01 lakh hectares has been protected. The eastern
districts as well as those situated in the Terai region bordering Nepal are
the most affected. Due to floods, an average of 26.89 lakh hectares is
affected annually, and the estimated loss to crops, houses and livestock is
to the tune of Rs.432 crore annually. Apart from these, loss of human life
also occurs.
Flood Management measures adopted so far:
Main flood management programmes so for undertaken in the State are:
·
Construction of embankments,
drainage improvements, building reservoirs detention basins and a
forestation etc.
·
Modification of susceptibility
to flood damage through flood forecasting and disaster preparedness. And the
improvement of river channel to increase their discharge carrying capacity
by straightening, widening and deepening.
·
The construction of by pass and
diversion channels to carry some of the excess floodwater away from the
protected areas.
Establishment of “Flood Control Centres”,
essentially in important flood prone districts and at the Headquarters in
Sichai Bhawan”, at Lucknow, for the pur poses of information gathering and
immediate remedial measures, such as repair of embankment etc.
Recent Developments
Recognizing the importance of vulnerability mapping, as a critical tool for
disaster preparedness, the State Irrigation Department has , with the help
of UP Remote Sensing Application Centre (RSAC-UP), has started using
satellite data for mapping and monitoring flood inundated areas, bank
erosions, alignment of embankments, status of water bodies, course of flow
of major rivers etc; in short, flood hazard zoning, post-flood survey of
river configuration, flood routing and protection works and damage
assessment. The services of RSAC-UP have been engaged for preparing detailed
digitized maps of all the flood prone eastern districts. Maps of six
districts have been prepared so far. ( box –2)
Efforts of the Army and the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC Flood
Division during Floods
The ever alert Army has been responding very quickly whenever
requisitioned.It has prepared a Flood Relief Scheme for the Lucknow Sub
Area, covering 14 districts. A similar plan is under preparation for the
entire eastern UP, taking into account that this region is the most flood
affected.
The PAC currently has 44 motor boats distributed among 17 Flood Companies
situated in the following districts viz. -Sitapur, Allahabad(2 in no.) ,
Meerut, Bareilly, Fatehpur, Agra, Azamgarh, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Gonda,
Lucknow, Varanasi (2 in no.) Kanpur, Ghaziabad, and Etah. 160. At the
meeting of State Level Standing Committee on Calamity Relief held on -24th
August, 2005, decision was taken to equip all the PAC Flood Companies with a
minimum of five motor boats apart from fitting rubberized and aluminum boats
with motor engines. Thus Rs.4.14 crores were released for purchase of
additional 41 motor boats and fixing motor engines on 60 rubberised and 72
aluminium boats , including 13 motor boats for the Revenue Department under
Calamity Relief Fund. Apart from this funds have been released for purchase
of 12 more motor boats for the Revenue Department The PAC Flood Companies
are also being shortly connected by the ‘Closed User Group’ mobile phone
network for their easy access by the civil administration in times of
emergencies.
Drought
Drought is another major disaster affecting the State of Uttar Pradesh. The
State produces about 21 percent of all food grains of the country, and hence
is agriculturally an important State. The total sown area is 25.30 million
ha out of which, 17.69 million ha. is irrigated area.(66% is irrigated). Of
the irrigated area, canals contribute about 25%, tube wells about 67% and
ponds, lakes etc. the remaining. Thus one third of the irrigated area and
the entire extent of rain fed area in the State is dependant on monsoon
rains.
The recharge of groundwater through rains accounts about 80 % of total
recharge. The monsoon rain accounts 70-80% of the total rainfall in a year
in our region.
The State of U.P. has been divided into two meteorological sub-divisions,
viz. U.P. East, and U.P. West. The recurrence perio d of highly deficient
rainfall in East U.P. has been calculated to be 6 to 8 years whereas in West
U.P. it is 10 years. The annual loss due to drought in the State varies
depending on the severity of the drought. In the recent years, the year
2002, & 2004 were severe in terms of drought, with loss to crop, livestock
and property assessed at Rs.7540 crores and Rs. 7292 crores respectively.
On going Drought Control Measures
Efforts are being made to lessen the impact of drought by the construction
of reservoirs, digging of bore wells, deepening of existing wells, lowering
of river intakes and diversion of flood water for groundwater recharge,
conserving soil moisture by proper crop rotation, use of drought resistant
varieties etc. Under the Drought Prone Area Programme of the Govt. of India
executed by the State emphasis was given on the improvement in minor
irrigation facilities, soil and water conservation works and aforestation.
These measures for drought control in the state are executed through Rural
Development ,Agriculture, Minor Irrigation and Forest Departments.
For the monitoring and assessment of drought in the country, a programme
named as National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System has
been initiated by the Dept. of Space where fortnightly bulletins are
provided based on interpretation and analysis of NOAA (National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration) satellite data. The drought assessment is based
on the analysis of vegetation conditions as seen on the satellite images
every fortnight. For U.P, the drought bulletins are being issued by the
National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad. Another important area in which
the remote sensing techniques is helping the district authorities is
providing information on sites for drilling tubewells, hand pumps, etc. In
the Bundelkhand Division of the state of U.P. most part of which suffer from
drought periodically, RSAC - UP has been able to provide drilling sites with
very successful results.
Effort is being made by RSAC-UP in a chronically drought affected district
of Lalitpur wherein remote sensing based information on forestry,
agriculture, soils, ground and surface water are being combined with
demographic information, rainfall estimate and cultural practices to evolve
long term measures for withstanding recurring drought conditions. The
outcome of this exercise will identify the area that need to be afforested
for soil and water conservation areas for further exploitation of
groundwater, areas requiring alternate cropping patterns on the requirement,
and areas for recharging groundwater.
Drought situation in Uttar Pradesh in the year 2002 and creation of ‘Crop
Weather Watch Group’
The monsoon in the state of Uttar Pradesh sets in early June and reaches
Lucknow around 15 June in a normal rainfall year. In the year 2002, except
for only 2-3 districts in Eastern U.P. and in the parts of foothill zone
south of Nepal, nil or scantly rainfall was received in June and July,
leading to the declaration of 15 districts as “Drought affected” by the
State government on 18 July 2002. This alarming situation led the Dept. of
Agriculture (DoA) to gather from RSAC-UP, information on crop sowing and
crop coverage using satellite data on a weekly basis. The Govt. of U.P.,
also created a committee named as “Crop Weather Watch Group” (CWWG) with the
Director General, U.P. Council of Agricultural Research as its Chairman and
Director of Agriculture, U.P., Director, RSAC-UP, Head, Agro meteorology
Division and Agronomists and Plant Breeders from the three Agricultural
Universities of the State as members.
The Objectives of the CWWG are as follows:
·
Assessment of region-wise and
crop wise area sown in the state,
·
Assessment of status of cropped
received by DoA from its field staff and corroboration with crop area and
status information from remote sensing data.
·
Assessment of status of
rainfall and medium range weather forecast received from NCMRWF, India
Meteorological Department, (IMD), and
·
Preparation of contingency plan
for farmers indicating steps to be taken by them if the rainfall is received
in the next week, next fortnight or next month. The contingency plan
consisted of advisories on alternate, low moisture requiring crops and
management practices to be adopted by the farmers in different districts/
divisions of the state keeping in view the current and future rainfall
condition.
Equipping the Fire Services
·
Advance Fire Tenders-for cities
of Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad, Lucknow and Meerut., along with
mobile sets and hand wireless sets.
·
Fire Boats for Ayodhya,
Allahabad and Gadmukteshwar (Ghaziabad)
·
Thirteen Rescue Tenders along
with mobile sets and hand wireless sets.
·
Use of GIS: -
·
Best approach route planning
for relief operation
·
Quick information on extent of
disaster damages inventory map of high rising buildings
·
Placement of adequate number of
fire tenders to cover maximum areas by demarking buffer zones
167. The CWWG had its discussion on weekly
basis, starting late July to the end of October 2002 and provided
information on contingency plan, which were released for farmers through
electronic and print media in all parts of the state. Since the information
by the CWWG was required on the extent of sown/cropped area on district
basis, the image received from NRSA was geo-referenced and intersected with
district boundary of U.P. and district-wise statistics were generated at
RSAC-UP. Further, the vegetation vigour as depicted on the NDVI image were
grouped into three vegetation classes, viz., very good, good, and low, and
one non-vegetation class shown as ‘other’ (bare soils, water bodies etc .)
The area under each of these classes was also calculated. Change in the
vegetation condition over the last fortnight was also analysed and a
qualitative estimation was made as to whether the change was significant in
terms of vegetation condition in the district.
Fires:
168. Annually, fires destroy thousands of houses especially in summer, in
the rural areas of the State. Also fire accidents are a common occurrence in
the urban areas.
169. At the meeting of the State Level Standing Committee on Calamity Relief
held on 25th August,2005, decision was taken to equip the State Fire
Department with required Rescue Tenders and Advanced Rescue Tenders, which
are in shortage right now. Funds to the tune of Rs. 12.19 crores have been
made available from the Calamity Relief Fund for purchase of the same. Apart
from this, the Fire Services Training Institute, Unnao, which is the Nodal
Institute for the entire State, for training in Search & Rescue Operations
,is being strengthened on war footing. The entire Fire Department including
it’s field stations are being shortly connected by the ‘Closed User Group’
mobile phone network for their easy access by the civil administration in
times of emergencies/accidents.
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