Over 2k died in India from natural disasters

HOME MINISTRY PLANS TO SOON INCLUDE HEAT DISASTERS IN THE LIST OF NOTIFIED DISASTERS, SAID THE OFFICIALS

- Jayashree Nandi and Neeraj Chauhan

NEW DELHI: Natural disasters such as cyclones, flash floods, floods, landslides and cloudbursts led to the death of 2616 people in India in 2023-24, a 24% rise as compared to 2104 killed in 2022-23, according to the annual report of the Union home ministry that was released last week.

In addition, these disasters resulted in the death of 101253 cattle (a 614% rise over 14,166 in 2022-23), destroyed and damaged 116159 houses (3,18,253 in 2022-23), and resulted in the loss of 8.07 lakh hectares of cropped area (19.16 lakh hectares in 2022-23), according to the report.

To be sure, the report has not taken into account extreme heat related disasters and mortality which means that it likely underestimates the cumulative impact of natural and climate disasters. The ministry plans to include heat disasters soon in the list of notified disasters, officials said.