The tranquillity of night in the Budgam district was interrupted with the wrath of nature. The failure of the Jhelum river embankment in the vicinity Zoonipora village is a strong and immediate reminder of how thin the line is between life in our communities and disaster.
As the water swelled into the villages of Shalina, Rakh Shalina, and Baghi Shakirshah, the homes, farms, and sense of security of hundreds evaporated.
The actions of the district administration to respond to this crisis deserves recognition. Launching immediate overnight evacuation and relief operations is highly difficult and significant.
The successful and safe movement of residents from their homes to pre-identified rescue and evacuation centres is a mark of the professionalism and diligence of our civil services and emergency responders.
Their work in the dark with no loss of life is the silver lining in a weather system that brings nothing but bad news. This effective mobilization in the immediate aftermath of the breach of the Jhelum flooded areas is precisely what citizens expect, and what they ought to expect from their government.
It also raises difficult questions about the management of our flood management systems. Are our embankments, canals, and ditches services routinely inspected and reinforced, particularly prior to the elevated risk seasons?
Flooding is nothing new to these villages by the Jhelum. The devastation of the 2014 floods looms large in Kashmir’s memory. Each small breach, each near miss, must not be thought of as isolated instances, but as significant warnings of what could come. Climate change is no longer an abstract idea, it has become a reality in our changing weather patterns, including the increased incidence of more intense rainfall. It is frequency that makes our current infrastructure increasingly more fragile.
Now we must ensure that all relief operations transition clearly into rehabilitation. Relief works that provide shelter, food, medicine, and other urgent needs is the first stage.
The next, and no less significant stage, is to identify the damage to homes and livelihoods, including farmers who may have lost standing crops, and arrange for appropriate, speedy and accountable compensation.
The people in these villages need a promise of returning to normality with action.
In this instance we were lucky – evacuation was swift and effective. However, we cannot, and must not, rely on luck. The government must evolve from a reactive response to a proactive response.
