The Path to a Greener Future: Understanding Sustainable Development In an era where environmental challenges and resource depletion are becoming increasingly evident, the concept of sustainable development has gained significant importance. Sustainable development aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This blog post will explore the principles, goals, and strategies of sustainable development, highlighting its critical role in ensuring a balanced and healthy future for our planet. "Transforming our world: The path to sustainable development." What is Sustainable Development? Sustainable development is a holistic approach that integrates economic growth, environmental protection, and social equity. It seeks to create a harmonious relationship between human activities and the natural world, ensuring that resources are used efficiently and responsibly. Definition: The most widely recognized de...
Disaster means a
terrible event that causes a great damage / loss to the human beings. It is a
situation arising from natural forces where large scale disruption of
infrastructure, services etc. occurs. It causes a serious impact on human life,
economy and environment. Natural disasters are always severe and sudden. Because
of the large geographical size of the country, India often faces natural
calamities like floods, cyclones and drought occurring frequently in different
parts of the country. Natural calamities are of two types:
1. Major calamities:
Ex: earthquakes; droughts; floods, tsunamis; cyclones etc
2. Minor calamities:
Ex: hailstorms; avalanches; fire accidents
FLOODS:
Among all
the disasters that occur in the country, floods are the most frequently
occurring natural disasters, due to the irregularities of the Indian monsoon.
About 75 percent of the annual rainfall in India is concentrated in three to four
months of the monsoon season. As a result there is a very heavy discharge from
the rivers during this period causing widespread floods. Approximately 40
million hectares of land in the country has been identified as being prone to
floods. Major floods are mainly caused in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin
which carries 60 percent of the total river flow of our country.
CYCLONES:
India has a long coastline of 5700 kms, which is exposed to
tropical cyclones arising in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The Indian
Ocean is one of the six major cyclone prone regions of the world. In India,
cyclones occur usually between April and May and also between October and
December. The eastern coastline is more prone to cyclones as it is hit by about
80 percent of the total cyclones generated in the region.
EARTHQUAKES:
Earthquakes
are considered to be one of the most destructive natural hazards. The impact of
this phenomenon occurs with so little warning that it is almost impossible to
make preparations against damages and collapse of buildings. About 50 to 60
percent of India is vulnerable to seismic activity of varying intensities. Most
of the vulnerable areas are located in the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions.
The Disaster
Management: The natural
disaster management involves the following steps:
1. Relief measures: it include rescue tools; communication equipments;
heavy machines to remove debris; water pumps; technicians; drugs, doctors,
ambulances..
2. Disaster predictions: The predictions of natural hazards may be
made on the basis of past history of the area with regular monitoring of the
environmental changes caused by human activities to assess the genesis of
natural disasters.
3. Education: Disaster education plays a significant role in
disaster education. It creates awareness and improves the standards to prevent
from the disasters.
4.
Geographic
Information Systems:
(GIS): GIS is a system that captures, stores, analyzes. Manages and presents
data with reference to geographic location of the area. In simple terms, GIS is
the merging of cartography, statistical analysis and database technology. GIS
may be used 54 in Archaeology, Geography, Remote Sensing, Land surveying;
Natural Resource Management; Urban Planning etc. GIS programmes help by means
of maps available data of the problem areas, to predict the severity of the
disaster
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