-BBC The severe flooding in Chennai again proves that India's cities are unprepared for extreme weather events like rains, droughts and cyclonic storms which are becoming more frequent and intense. Many parts of India suffer flooding every year during the annual monsoon rains from June to September. The northeast monsoon has been particularly vigorous over southern India and more so in Tamil Nadu state, of which Chennai is the capital. Last month was...

-The Hindu cyclonic storms on Tamil Nadu’s 1,076-km coastline are not unusual, and at least once in two years there is some disaster or the other. The common thread running through every such instance is that all claims of preparedness are invariably exposed as either hollow or woefully inadequate. The focus, as well as any claim to administrative efficiency, is solely on rescue and relief operations. What the government is able...

-DNA Hyderabad: The Hudhud cyclone that had hit Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh in October has caused a loss of Rs 21,908 crore, including damage to the tune of Rs 6,136 crore to private industries in the port city, the state government told the Legislative Assembly on Hyderabad. Making a statement on Hudhud today, Deputy Chief Minister N China Rajappa said the human loss in the devastating cyclone which made a landfall on...

-IPS News SUNDARBANS: November is the cruelest month for landless families in the Indian Sundarbans, the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world lying primarily in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. There is little agricultural wage-work to be found, and the village moneylender's loan remains unpaid, its interest mounting. The paddy harvest is a month away, pushing rice prices to an annual high. For those like Namita Bera,...

-The Indian Express Rajkot (Gujarat): Even as the Met department said that cyclonic storm Nilofar may not hit Kutch and Saurashtra coasts with the ferocity feared earlier, the forecast of rain and gusty winds have cultivators of groundnut and cotton worried. Saurashtra produces around 90 per cent of groundnut and around 60 per cent of cotton of the state. Farmers fear that the cyclone may damage to the twin cash crops. These...