Hard Lessons for Nagaland From the Monsoon

Nagaland has been in turmoil since the monsoon set in more than a month ago with incessant rains causing havoc in almost all parts of the state. It destroyed properties worth lakh and crore. Flood and landslide have damaged roads, completely cutting off many villages from the rest of the state besides taking away some precious lives. Hundreds of houses have been destroyed and thousands of people displaced. Even as the state’s government, civil society organisations, churches and selfless volunteers are trying to help the affected people get back on their feet, rain continues without mercy. Dozens of houses, including the state’s directorate of Women Resource Development in Kohima were affected after the heavy downpour on Sunday. But this is not the first time that Nagaland has faced nature’s fury. The state has witnessed several devastating rain-induced landslides in the past such as the ones at Kohima’s New Market colony in 2003, Mokokchung town in 2005, Wokha town in 2006, Zunheboto Town in 2006, and National Highway 39 near Kiruphema in 2007. This says that the state could face such natural calamities in the future too, possibly even more frequently due to Global Warming and Climate Change. According to the National Disaster Management Authority, the Western Ghats and the Himalayas in the northwest and Northeast India are areas of high vulnerability, and landslide-prone regions. The state also falls in the seismic zone-V, the highest earthquake-prone zone, according to the Geological Survey of India. This makes north-eastern states such as Nagaland vulnerable to natural calamities. To top it, most of the villages and towns in the state including Kohima are located on hills, which means landslides could cause devastating damage if precautions are not taken. It is imperative that construction of all structures including commercial buildings and residential houses across the state follow safety guidelines set by the government. But who is following the Nagaland State Building Bye-laws 2012, which was formulated to control damage from flood, landslide, earthquake and other calamities, to regulate construction of buildings? Whom shall we blame—the government or the public—for the failure to comply with the rules? Everybody has to be blamed for the sheer negligence that had been going on for years. The government should ensure that the Nagaland State Building Bye-laws 2012 and the procedures for obtaining No Objection Certificate for constructions are strictly adhered to. The public too should not build houses on vulnerable locations such as slopes, or near drainage. We can’t stop disasters but it can be minimised if we don’t let greed and apathy get the better of us.