Disasters as warnings

There has been no letup in nature’s fury; torrential rains and gale-force winds continue to lash many parts of Sri Lanka, triggering floods and landslides. About 60 lives had been lost at the time of writing. What is unfolding has been described as one of Sri Lanka’s worst weather disasters.

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At this hour, the focus of the nation must be on mitigating the crippling impact of natural disasters and helping the victims crying out for help. Some areas have been totally cut off by floods, landslides, rockfalls and damaged bridges. Armed forces, the police, state officials and volunteers are braving inclement weather to continue rescue operations and provide relief to the victims trapped in disaster-stricken areas.

Sri Lanka’s history is replete with instances of floods, landslides, storms and other such disasters. Climate change is usually blamed for these adverse weather events. But in this country weather disasters have taken a turn for the worse over the last few decades, with death tolls rising alarmingly, due to unbridled human activities harmful to the environment, such as the ever increasing encroachment on forests and wetlands, illegal sand mining and deforestation caused by illicit felling, agricultural expansion and unplanned growth of settlements. These causative factors have gone unaddressed.