-Down to Earth From floodplain identification to flood hazard map to availability of rain gauges, CAG report points out shortcomings in Kerala’s flood response Could poor response on part of the Kerala government have caused the massive floods of 2018 in the state? A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pointed at severe lapses on the part of the government in planning, capacity building, flood forecasting and dam...

-The Tribune Along with better forecasts, we need better monitoring and reporting of actual rainfall, water levels in rivers and incidents of landslides. More timely and location-specific forecasts that would enable the disaster management authorities to take the necessary advance actions would help. Such emergency action plans would follow only if there is a functional, accountable and participatory disaster management mechanism in place. This month’s flood disasters in two states distant from...

-The Hindu Business Line The 2016 report had flagged the disastrous impact of unchecked illegal constructions; but it was never tabled in the Assembly Early warnings of a 2016 draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) Kerala office about the disastrous implications of the environmental degradation due to unchecked and illegal construction activities in the State seem to have been buried, with the report inexplicably not getting tabled in the...

-PTI/ TheNewsMinute.com Of the 694 districts in the country, 45% of them have recorded rainfall in large excess. India received 41% more rainfall than normal from October 1-21 with Uttarakhand alone recording more than five times its normal precipitation, IMD data showed on Thursday. Providing a numerical perspective to the unusually heavy rains ravaging several parts of the country, particularly the hill state of Uttarakhand in the north and coastal Kerala in...

-Hindustan Times On Saturday, two landslides claimed 18 lives in Idukki and Kottayam districts. Residents of Kootickal and Kokkayar, the two worst-hit hamlets, witnessed a tragedy of such magnitude for the first time Thiruvananthapuram: The death of 24 people in flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in the hilly areas of Idukki and Kottayam districts in central Kerala has once again highlighted the recurring natural disasters in the state. Kerala has...