Experts are right when they say that not much has been done for flood mitigation after the 2014 floods in Kashmir. The impact of the floods at that time was such that the mitigation measures should have been put on priority.
Slowly, the memories of the devastation faded out from the minds of the people and the government machinery also got busy in other works. Floods cannot be stopped, but with right measures its impact, and subsequent devastation, can be minimised.
According to a report, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) and the Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI) have submitted a detailed project report to Jammu and Kashmir Government for flood mitigation.
It has recommended a number of flood prevention measures. It is upto the Government now to go through the report and take necessary measures for flood mitigation. Sleeping over the requirement regarding mitigation measures can prove disastrous.
The people and the government machinery can be taken unawares and another flood can hit Kashmir any time. There is a general perception that the flood in 2014 had occurred after 100 years and can re-occur only after 100 years.
Only experts in this field can say how far is this perception correct. Floods have been occurring in Kashmir from time to time but devastation like that of 2014 was never experienced before. It hit vast areas, which were otherwise considered as safe from floods.
Both the people and government machinery were caught unawares and lack of preparedness at government level added to the miseries and sufferings.
There was total non-seriousness and lack of will in official circles as they were clueless about all that was happening. It was being expected that both the people and government set-up will learn lessons and devise future strategy.
But this did not happen. Both the government and the people moved on and got busy in other issues leaving the necessity of flood mitigation unattended.
Responsible society and responsible government machinery does not ignore their duties to deal with natural disasters.
2014 floods have shown that the scale of devastation can really be very high, and the devastation can be much higher if immediate steps are not taken.