All of us remember the citizen’s outrage at media not treating the grim situation in Kerala with the gravity it deserves with many taking to social media to question media’s priorities. This led to people across the country making donations to Kerala flood relief fund when their silence was questioned.
Unfortunately, the northeast, which has witnessed more than 100 deaths since June owing to this year’s early start of monsoon season has been a hit and miss case for the media with meager support and less coverage.
The Flood Damage Done And Ignored
China had issued warnings about torrential rains increasing the water in Siang River flowing into India’s northeast, mainly Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
Nineteen people were rescued by the Indian Air Force from a tiny island in the river whereas hundreds of people were displaced from a dozen villages to higher ground in Arunachal Pradesh on the Indian side.
Apart from Arunachal Pradesh, the flood situation has escalated in Nagaland severely impacting 48,821 families in 531 villages.
With about 5408.57 acres of agricultural land being impacted, roads have been disrupted in locations around the districts of Tuensang, Kiphire, and Phek along with the state capital, Kohima.
A SoS situation has been announced in the State with 359 roads remaining cut off until the water recedes and the disaster is mitigated.
In fact, a top government official made an announcement that about 800 crores are required by the Nagaland Government for the damage to be restored.
All I am saying is that we needed CM of the state to tweet a video of the flood-ravaged state seeking donation to a bank account number so that the entire nation knows about the crisis.
Is a piece of news supposed to be ‘National’ only when a CM makes a statement?
The death toll due to the damage stands at 12. But stony silence on the issue speaks of miles to go before Nagaland sleeps on normalcy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um_gWtuGSDw
Here’s a video by Indihut organizing an open-mic session in order to raise funds for flood relief.
Indihut, a platform for musicians belonging to the North-east, raised around Rs 28,000 within two hours on the streets of Kohima.
You Can Also Read: Kerala Pastor Apparently Said That ‘God Was Now Punishing The People Of Kerala For Their Sins’ To Explain The Kerala Floods
Is Seeking For A Permanent Solution Too Much To Ask?
North-east India needs a permanent solution as this region is regularly hit by flood each and every year. We need proper dialogues between India, China and Bangladesh as most of the rivers flooding the region even flow into these countries.
Although China warned us about the possible flood this year, we didn’t have a contingency plan to minimize the impact of the flood, playing by the same pitiful story every year.
Even though 12 may not seem high of a death toll number and we have become used to the non-inclusive treatment meted out to us in such times but a permanent solution has become mandatory considering the topography and unpredictable weather.
A large number of rivers flowing through the north-east also course through the countries of Bangladesh and China, thereby making it necessary for the proper implementation of a dialogue solving problems on each side.
Sources: The Indian Express, Rightlog, The Wire, Economic Times
Image Credits: Google Images
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