Eight deaths in cloudbursts in a single day in Jammu and Kashmir last week shows the weaknesses of public awareness and disaster management plans. Had the public awareness programs and appropriate disaster management practices been pursued at the right time, the deaths could have been prevented and colossal damage to the property would have been averted in the hilly district of Kishtwar and in other such areas of both Kashmir valley and as well as Jammu division. Lapses have to be identified for the corrective measures required for combating the threats of cloudbursts in the rainy seasons in the hilly districts of Jammu & Kashmir. Since the fact remains that deaths of civilians have not been reported for the first time from any hill district of Jammu & Kashmir but deaths of civilians due to cloud bursts have been reported many a times in the distant past also from different parts of Jammu & Kashmir. The lack of awareness amid alerts and warnings of cloudbursts and thunderstorms from the meteorological department shows that the casual approach of the disaster management in the hilly districts is the cause of deaths in the recent cloudbursts in the hilly district of Kishtwar.
Though it is also a fact that technological devices for prediction of the exact time span of thunderstorms have not been discovered yet and as such a prompt system of disseminating information about thunderstorms and cloudbursts is not available with the disaster management departments in the districts, but government can’t take lame excuses over it’s failures in saving lives of the people merely by saying that it does not have technological devices for prediction of the exact time of thunderstorms in hand as still public awareness in response to weather alerts and warnings of thunderstorm are sufficient enough for the government to take precautionary measures well in time.
Knowing that climate change is now resulting in the unprecedented rise in maximum, and minimum temperatures and consequently weather disturbances too are intensifying year after year, the government has to show quick responses to the warnings and alerts about thunderstorms and embark on public awareness practices for the safety of people in the hilly areas . Since the rising temperatures and weather disturbances trigger heat waves, thunderstorms and lightings, the disaster management practices have to be planned well in advance with full focus on public awareness about the alerts and warnings of the meteorological department flashing even on the mobile phones of the people in the remotest of the remote areas in Jammu & Kashmir like other parts of the country. Though it is also a fact that technological devices for prediction of the exact time span of thunderstorms have not been discovered as yet and as such a prompt system of disseminating information about thunderstorms and cloudbursts is not available with the disaster management departments in the districts, but government can’t take lame excuses over it’s failures in saving lives of the people merely by saying that it does not have technological devices for prediction of the exact time of thunderstorms in hand as still public awareness in response to weather alerts and warnings of thunderstorm are sufficient enough for the government to take precautionary measures well in time.
