THIS CRISIS IS OF OUR MAKING

We are living through catastrophic times that will bring even mighty mountains to their knees

- SUNITA NARAIN

THIS IS NOT NORMAL; it is beyond tragic. Words fail me to explain the scale of devastation the northern Indian subcontinent has witnessed during this season of rain. Vast areas are flooded; homes, schools and hospitals have been lost; roads and other infrastructure destroyed; agricultural fields submerged. In the Western Himalayan region, where cloudburst after cloudburst has hit the ground, mighty mountains have crumbled like rivers of mud. This has a huge human cost; put a face to the flood and the devastation to comprehend what these losses mean.

What is not normal is the intensity of the extreme rain in this region. In the month of August, Punjab experienced heavy and extremely heavy rainfall, as classified by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), for 24 out of 31 days. IMD classifies “heavy” as more than 115 mm and “extremely heavy” as more than 204 mm of rain in 24 hours. It’s not a downpour, it’s a deluge of Biblical proportions.