-Business Standard These disasters were caused due to higher economic activities like rock quarrying, construction of new buildings and roads and destruction of natural forest, says Madhav Gadgil At least 20 people have lost their lives and several others are missing as heavy rains led to flash floods and landslides in several parts of Kerala. The situation, which may turn out to be a repeat of the 2018 floods if rain continues, has...

-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...

-Down to Earth blog The ecology of Himachal Pradesh’s hydropower hub is too fragile for such projects “Twenty-five years ago, people could be excused for not knowing much, or doing much about climate change. Today, we have no excuses,” Desmond Tutu, South African theologian, had said. The recent landslides in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district brought back focus on how 40 per cent of the state is geologically ‘highly sensitive’, according to a report...

-Down to Earth Lower caste communities are ostracised and denied access to rehabilitation facilities during Natural disasters The malpractices of untouchability and caste-based discrimination, although banned in India, continues unabated in several districts of Odisha. During a natural calamity, they turn into a greater menace as the ostracised people are denied access to rehabilitation facilities. Dalit communities Keuta, Kandara and Siara in Puri district, who sell fish to survive, suffered a major financial...

Media reports indicate that at the start of the southwest monsoon season, lightning strikes caused the death of over 70 people in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on a single day i.e. 11th July, 2021. Prior to those separate events related to human casualty caused by thunderbolts, eighteen elephants were found dead on a hilltop at Kandali Proposed Reserve Forest situated in Assam's Nagaon district on...