NASA, through its Operational Land Imager (OLI), shared the before and after images of the devastating, unprecedented floods that hit Kerala since August 8. The images clearly show the stark difference before and after the disaster struck.
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite acquired the left image on February 6, 2018, before the flood. The Multispectral Instrument on the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite acquired the right image on August 22, 2018, after flood water had inundated the area. The images are false-colour, which makes flood water appear dark blue. Vegetation is bright green.
NASA also released an image of the amount of total rainfall on the country and south-east Asia and said Kerala’s August rain played a part massive flooding, although it was worsened when water was released from several full dams. “The dam releases came way too late, and it coincided with the heavy rain that was occurring,” said Sujay Kumar, research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
In one of the first unprecedented floods in history, fresh onslaught of rain in Kerala since August 8 has led to a death toll of over 400. 80 dams were opened. A red alert had been issued in all the 14 districts of the state. There have been power cuts and food shortage across the state.
Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi announced a financial assistance of Rs 500 crore to the flood ravaged state of Kerala after chairing a high level meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Minister Alphons KJ and other state ministers for checking rehabilitations measures and assessing the damage. He also announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh per person to the next kin of the deceased.
The President of the United Arab Emirates Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan instructed officials to set up a national emergency committee to help flood-hit areas of Kerala, reported news agency ANI.
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The author of a report on the conservation of the Western Ghats, Scientist Madhav Gadgil, said on Sunday that the scale of the disaster would have been smaller had the state government and local authorities followed environmental laws. He headed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel formed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2010, said at least a part of the problem in Kerala was “man made”.
“Yes, there is an intense rainfall event which has caused this. But I am quite convinced that the last several years’ developments in the state have materially compromised its ability to deal with events like this and greatly increased the magnitude of the suffering that we are seeing today. Had proper steps been taken, the scale of the disaster would have been nowhere near what it is today,” Dr Gadgil told The Indian Express.
