Tamil Nadu has been witnessing a steady rise in number of casualties due to natural calamities in recent times, show official data presented before Parliament on Tuesday.
In 2013-14, the State lost 15 people to natural calamities, while in 2014-15, the number rose to 75. This year, the death toll was 169 even before the deadly rain. By latest reports, at least 269 people died in the torrential rain over the past few days. Puducherry has lost at least 54 people until now.
Vulnerable StateThe Union government statistics is based on the casualties in heat wave, heavy rain, cloudburst, floods, earthquakes, landslides, cyclonic storms and so on.
“India, because of its unique geo-climatic and socioeconomic conditions, has been vulnerable in varying degrees to various disasters,” Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha.
By the data, in 2012-13, the country lost 984 people to natural disasters, while in 2013-14, the number shot up to 5,844.
In 2014-15, the country’s total human toll in natural disasters was 1,696.
Until November 24 during this financial year, the country lost 1,192 people to natural disasters.
Reasons for casualtiesThere could be various explanations for the steady increase in the number of casualties in Tamil Nadu. A couple of the explanations must be worrying: The State is prone to frequent natural calamities and worse, it is probably not taking adequate measures to minimise the number of casualties.
