Mountain Environment and Human Security Concerns

Mountain Environment and Human Security Concerns

Gorkhaland Territorial Administration: Few observations

http://www.darjeelingtimes.com/opinions/political/3303-gorkhaland-territorial-administration-few-observations.html

Dilemma of Urbanisation in the Himalayas

http://www.darjeelingtimes.com/news/Ecological-issue/Dilemma-of-Urbanisation-in-the-Himalayas.html

Changing niche: climatic changes recorded in Sikkim Himalaya

Changing niche: climatic changes recorded in Sikkim Himalaya

Human and Nature: Experiences from the Sikkim Himalayan Earthquake

It was a weekend on the 18th of September 2011. Majority of us were enjoying the Sunday evening either lazily at our own home or in the town at Gangtok with friends and family members. After thoroughly cleaning my house whole of the first half of the day, I decided not to venture out in the evening to further stress myself but to enjoy the evening watching television and having dinner little early than the usual weekdays schedule.

Not in the slightest imagination of our thought did we have an idea that Sikkim and its surrounding geographical milieu shall soon tremble so horrendously for almost 40 seconds.

I entered my kitchen exactly at 6.00 pm and started my evening responsibility. Suddenly at around 6.10 pm our building started shaking. I immediately deciphered it was an earthquake. Initially I thought it was a minor regular tremor that we usually experience in the region and therefore did not take it seriously.

However, as the vibration became stronger and longer, women in and around started shouting, buildings started making noise and the furniture and utensils felled from their place. It was clear that this was a big one with its epicenter not very far from Gangtok. It was at this point, I felt that this earthquake would probably kill many of us. It was a lifetime experience.

Fortunately, before our building collapsed, the earthquake gradually became feeble and left us. Few aftershocks were also witnessed after the big one.

The enormity of Mother Nature over the so called 21st century development paradigm was clearly evident. It was also clear how feeble we and our development are before the gigantism of nature.

Earthquake in the Himalayas

The Himalaya is formed by the collision of Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. The mountain building process is still going on because the Indian Plate is still moving towards the Eurasian Plate. The Indian Plate is pushing the Eurasian Plate northward. The colliding force builds up pressure continually for several years and this pressure is released in the form of earthquakes from time to time.

The Indian Himalayas have experienced some significantly strong earthquakes in the past few decades. USGS has ranked the Indian earthquakes to be the 8th strongest ones in the world

It is important to understand that the Himalaya is not as strong as it appears to be. Dynamics of change in the entire Himalayan ranges are inextricably intertwined with factors such as climate, geology, fauna, flora, water resources etc. The region experiences various types of geo-environmental/geomorphic processes and thereby is prone to a number of natural hazards. Often these hazards assume the form of disaster due to the region’s inherent nature, climatic conditions and lack of adequate disaster preparedness mechanisms, consequently inflicting widespread catastrophe and human insecurities in the region. Further, many of the natural processes have been accelerated by unscientific and unsustainable human activities.

Man V/s Nature

Environmental insecurities across the Himalaya have been responsible in guiding and directing civilizations in the area over the millennia. The relationship between human and environment in the Himalaya had/has been very close since antiquity. There had been a symbiotic and intimate relationship between humans and environment over the ages. However, more recently, things are changing for bad in this fragile resource zone. Originally, humans adjusted themselves with the complex geo-environmental set up of the region and hence environmental determinism was very strong. In recent times, however, we have been seeking to adjust the Himalayan environment according to our needs thereby making way for environmental possibilism. It has resulted in the imbalances in the environment and aggravated the natural processes. This is a very serious issue having far reaching implications on the security of the Himalayan environment and human beings living therein in the days to come.

Sikkim Himalayan Earthquake

Sikkim Earthquake was a magnitude 6.9 Mw [elsewhere it is mentioned 6.8] earthquake centered within the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, near the border of Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim. It occurred at 18:10 Indian Standard Time on Sunday, 18 September 2011. The earthquake was felt across northeastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and southern Tibet.

So far around 116 people have been reported killed in the earthquake and several hundred injured. Most of the deaths occurred in Sikkim. Several buildings also collapsed in the state, roads damaged. There are evidences of several minor and major landslides and landslips in the region. The state was physically and virtually disconnected from the rest of the world for almost 24 hours after the earthquake occurred. It has been estimated that the quake has rendered a loss and damage of over Rs one lakh crore in Sikkim alone.

Preliminary Casualties

Country -- No of Death
India -- 97
Nepal -- 11
China -- 07
Bhutan -- 01

Some suggestions

· The Himalaya should not only be looked at as a military frontier. It should not be treated merely as a physical entity because it also has vibrant living aspects. The Himalaya cannot be independent of people living therein nor the inhabitants without their habitats. Often, the Himalaya has been kept at mercy of the mainstream development policies that have little or no relevance in the region given its geo-environmental and socio-cultural dynamics.

· There are areas that are quite rich in natural resources but are inhabited by poor people. The inhabitants have been suffering under harsh environmental conditions, carrying out subsistence economic activities, based primarily on animal rearing and rudimentary farming. Such situation needs up-gradation. Promotion of adequate education, health and food security of the mountain people include important human security challenges in this respect.

· Policy makers, development planners and project implementers should not regard Himalaya as an appendage to economic and political interest of indo-Gangetic plains. It is high time they recognised the geo-political and geo-environmental significance of the region.

· Development planning across the Himalaya should not only aim at improving quality of life but also should have a target of ‘Zero Disaster Impact’. Disasters erode away not only the resource base but also cause loss of human life and bring about unprecedented human insecurities. It further requires extraordinary post disaster non-productive expenses. Efforts need to be focused to use efficient flow sheets absorbing newer technologies and ideas and incorporate Disaster Management Plan for terrain induced as well as human induced disasters in the development planning process of the Himalaya.

· Terrain [like earthquake] induced natural disasters cannot be stopped or diverted away but damages can be prevented and minimised with proper appreciation of geology and other geo-environmental parameters. On the other hand, human induced disasters are the result of in-efficient flow sheets and/or absence of a Disaster Management Plan. All development projects irrespective of financial or physical outlays need to have inherent nucleus of disasters, in general bigger the project larger the nucleus.

· Although India does have its National Disaster Management Policy, the States are primarily responsible for evolving their own State Disaster Management Plan and relief activities. Therefore, it is high time for us to wake up and internalise the geo-environmental realities of the region and work towards that end.