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By Theodore Sam, World Vision India.
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The recent devastating floods that hit Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka killed hundreds of people, left millions homeless and destroyed thousands of acres of crops. This has become a glaring reality of the effects of fast changing climatic conditions in India.
Many climate change experts had predicted that as the planet warms, it is highly likely that depending on the location, there will be an increase in the frequency and severity of floods and droughts. And the recent floods have just proved these predictions real.
Padma, 14, hails from a village called Duarspalli, located on the banks of the river Krishna. The flood that was caused by the overflowing of the river has damaged her house very badly and washed off all their crops.
"Every year we sow our seeds and start cultivation, but the canal that we draw water from for irrigation always dries up, leaving us huge losses," says Ramadurai, 52, Padma's father. "Harvest for us always used to be very unpredictable because the canals dry up most times, and now the floods have destroyed the crops," he adds, dejectedly.
Padma and her family were put up in a relief camp a little away from their village and living in very unsafe conditions.
The effects of climate change on children seem to paint a very disturbing picture. Issues like migration, health, crop loss, malnutrition and shelter have risen as a direct impact of the floods. Also, other indirect impacts are aplenty, including child labour, possible increase in school dropout rates, child security and abuse. Padma had already quitted school.
One of UNICEF’s reports states that: “Compared to adults, children are more susceptible to environmental degradation because of their physical, cognitive and physiological immaturity.”
Mahaboobnagar, a drought-prone area where Padma lives, was seriously affected by drought just a few months back. And now, the floods have made the lives of hundreds of thousands of families in this district very difficult. The harsh effects of climate change have already begun.
The magnitude of rainfall in Karnataka and Andhra was an unexpected downpour. “The districts that are around the Hyderabad-Karnataka borders where most of the flooding happened, received the heaviest rainfall recorded in over 50 years,” reported a leading national daily.
Most of the rainfall was recorded over a 48-hour period which forced the governments to open up dams and reservoirs, flooding all the villages in Andhra Pradesh that sat on the banks of the River Krishna. The normal rainfall for the State during this period is usually 37 mm and the rainfall recorded this year was 159 mm.
Devarahippargi in Bijapur district, Karnataka, received 143mm of rain in 24 hours on October 1, the highest rainfall recorded in a day in nearly 100 years. The previous high was 135.8mm, supposedly recorded in 1915.
“The trends of natural disasters are now changing due to the larger impact of climate change. Erratic monsoon pattern and multiple disasters are affecting many regions,” said Salom Jacob, Technical Specialist on Climate Change, World Vision India.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its 2007 fourth assessment report, had said that one of the consequences of global warming and climate change would be more extreme weather events - droughts, floods and storms would become more frequent and more severe.
It is estimated that 36 per cent of deaths in children below 14 years is attributed to illness and conditions related to poor environment.
At least five children die of diarrhoea in India every day. The fact that climate change is set to increase the high incidences of diarrhoea, malaria, under nutrition and other vector and waterborne diseases is very disturbing indeed.
Climate change is bound to increase the damages already suffered by children, especially those living in poverty, in more ways than one.
Help families devastated by the recent disasters!
Click here to support World Vision’s Disaster Response Fund.
Click here to read the story of a family who has lost their home to the flood in India.
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