Nature’s fury: Need to go beyond piecemeal solutions

HIMACHAL Pradesh, Uttarakhand, J&K — there is no respite for their residents from the tragic trail of destruction this monsoon. Flashfloods, cloudbursts and landslides have caused human and economic losses, exposing the fragility of the ecosystem and the inadequate preparedness — or even unpreparedness — of the state/UT authorities. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Himachal government has admitted to shortcomings in the existing measures to deal with ecological imbalance. The state has sought at least six months to prepare a ‘comprehensive future action plan’ to tackle the situation. It’s a pity that there seems to be no sense of urgency to mitigate or prevent natural disasters, whose frequency and intensity are on the rise due to factors such as climate change, deforestation and unregulated development.