The deadly flood in Kerala may be only a gentle warning

Roy, Arundhati
http://climateandcapitalism.com/2018/08/23/arundhati-roy-the-deadly-flood-in-kerala-may-be-only-a-gentle-warning/
Date Written:  2018-08-21
Publisher:  Climate and Capitalism
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23049

Arundhati Roy comments on the disasterous flooding in the Indian state of Kerala. While acknowleding various forces lead to the disaster, Roy also places blame on government mismanagement and ignoring the needs of the state's most disadvanted people.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

We know by now that in the era of global warming and climate change, the mountains and the coastal areas will be the first to pay the price. The intensity and the frequency of climate catastrophes will only increase. California is burning. Kerala is drowning. Our beloved Kerala is a strip of land sandwiched between the mountains and the sea. We could not be more vulnerable.

Unbridled greed, the shocking denuding of forest land for mining and illegal development of resorts and homes for the wealthy, illegal construction that has blocked all natural drainage, the destruction of natural water storage systems, the blatant mismanagement of dams, have all played a huge part in what is happening.

How could it be that the Central Water Commission did not predict this flood? How could it be that dams that are supposed to control floods ended up releasing water from their reservoirs at the height of the crisis, magnifying the disaster several times over?
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