Kerala Flood : Trouble in Paradise

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Late July, 2018. What seemed to be an unassuming day for most of us, would soon convert to living nightmare for the residents of Kerala.  Out of the fourty two dams, thirty five had to be opened. For the first time in 26 years, all five overflow gates of the Idukki dam were opened at the same  time.

Hi, I am Sayon Bhattacharya and welcome to Hexarius. Let's read on and understand the nature of the situation and what we can do to prevent and recover from this tragedy.


To better understand the gravity of the situation, let's break down the situation into discrete points and analyse them, starting with-

1. Cause: 

Perhaps unsurprisingly some of most educated member of our government, to the likes of recently appointed RBI Board member, Mr Gurumurthy, may think that women's entry to the Sabrimala temple and presence of Christians and Muslims have caused the flood in Kerala, well that's far from what's true.

Kerala received incessantly huge amount of rain on the mid evening of August 8 which caused the dams filling to their capacity.


The state received 12 Inches or 310 mm of rain in the first 24 hours which amounts to more than 400% rainfall than the average during this time of the year.

However it is worth mentioning that most of the affected areas were classified as ecologically-sensitive zones (ESZs) by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, the Gadgill committee.
Most  of the recommendations and directions made by this committee was either neglected or totally rejected. Environmentalists are claiming the tragedy to be a "man-made calamity".

2. Effect:

At the time of writing this article, 370 lives have been lost. While rescue work is in full swing, 33,000 people have been evacuated. 

Reports are coming in that indicate towards complete loss of potable water in poor and underdeveloped regions as water treatment plants have stopped working as well.

Over 4,000 relief camps are currently operational and they are hosting upwards of 8,00,000 people. 

The flooding has inundated hundreds of villages and thousands of homes have been displaced. 

The busiest airport in the state, Cochin Intl. Airport has also ceased to operate until 26th August. 

Major industries such as textile have been affected due to 80% of the state suffering from power cutoff.

Sabrimala temple pilgrimage has been halted due to overflow of the nearby Pamba river.

Onam celebrations have been called off in order to facilitate swift reconstruction of damage.

₹  19,500 crore ($ 3 billion) worth of property has been claimed by nature.

3. Rescue and Relief:

52 rescue teams of central armed forces i.e. - Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and Indian Army are tirelessly airlifting and providing aid to the sufferers. In addition to the 10 NDRF units stationed across the affection regions, 4 additional teams were airlifted to provide required aid. 

Apart from them, the fishermen are also being extremely helpful and are helping the rescue operations as well. 

Supports from various national and international organisations have resulted in rapid rescue work and will go a long way in the reconstruction work. 

More than ₹100 Crore has been pledged by states governments of India. ₹ 500 Crore has been given by Prime Minister's interim relief for Kerala. 

UAE has contributed immensely, providing ₹700 Crore for aid work. An Indian doctor, Dr Shamsheer Vayalil will donate ₹50 Crore. 

With such contribution, one can expect the state of Kerala to rise to it's former glory is no time. However, your help is needed too. 

While our politicians are busy fueling their agenda by blaming women entering temples and people consuming beef and even inciting people to not contribute to the cause due to presence of Muslims and Christians in the region. 

We must maintain our humanity first, and it is a plea, on behalf of our own brothers and sisters from the south. Please help them, help them live, help them stand on their foot again. 


Written by Sayon Bhattacharya for Hexarius©

I will not ask you to support our work in this article, you can always do that later. Please do donate to the cause of Kerala with whatever amount you deem fit over here- 


Please share this article and spread the news. Donate whatever you can, little help goes long way. 

Thank you.
May such a tragedy never befalls you or your loved ones. 


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