FLOOD AND SOIL EROSION IN ASSAM

FLOOD AND SOIL EROSION IN ASSAM

A flood occurs when water overflows or inundates land that's normally dry. This can happen in a multitude of ways. Most common is when rivers or streams overflow their banks. Excessive rain, a ruptured dam or levee, rapid ice melting in the mountains, or even an unfortunately placed beaver dam can overwhelm a river and send it spreading over the adjacent land.

 An annual feature that people of Assam have been living with ever since time immemorial. Year after year, it’s a repeat of loss of life, damage to crop and property, and loss of cattle and wildlife, We take great pride in claiming how far India has come since independence and yet, when it comes to Assam, the nation simply seems to take the damages as a fact of life and everything carries on as usual, once the flood recedes.

The situation began to turn critical ever since the state experienced pre-monsoon showers in April and May this year. The breach in embankments along the Brahmaputra river and its various tributaries has caused flooding in almost  23 out of 35 districts in the state and has submerged crops in over 2 lakhs  hectares. Every year, over 31.6 lakh hectares of land in Assam is flood prone. Of this, around 9.5 lakh hectares gets directly      affected by floods each year. The total damage caused  exceeds Rs 160 crore annually.

                            

1.                

 Almost 80% of the famous Kaziranga National Park submerged, Assam’s pride – the one-horned Rhinos and other wildlife across the state, have had to face the brunt of swelling waters.

Morigaon in lower Assam has been most affected since last few decades, where over 3.6 lakh people have had to face flood waters. The entire Majuli riverine island, that forms a large part of Jorhat district, lies submerged, affecting over 1.71 million people.

Due t o heavy rains  in Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan and Upper Assam have resulted in the Brahmaputra and its tributaries to flow above the danger mark. The excess water has broken embankments in many places causing severe floods along the route, especially in regions of Lower Assam.

           Soil erosion is defined as the wearing away of topsoil. Topsoil is the top layer of soil and is the most fertile because it contains the most organic, nutrient-rich materials. Therefore, this is the layer that farmers want to protect for growing their crops and ranchers want to protect for growing grasses for their cattle to graze on.

  The Major causes of flood and soil erosion are discussed below- there are basically two types of causes of erosion like Natural cause and Man-made causes. One of the most important natural cause of soil erosion is Geology and Geomorphology of the region Physiographic condition in the valley Seismic activity Excessive rainfall. And some man-made causes are like Drainage congestion due to man-made embankments Human encroachment of reverie areas, The building of embankments along the  Brahmaputra and its tributaries has only added to flooding waters breaking embankments and so on.

1. 

   We can prevent soil erosion by using some method like Plant grass and shrubs. ...

2.    Add mulch or rocks. ...

3.    Use mulch matting to hold vegetation on slopes. ...

4.    Put down fiber logs. ...

5.    Build retaining walls. ...

6.    Improve drainage. ...

7.    Reduce watering if possible. ...

8.    Avoid soil compaction.

Some images of soil erosion in past time-

 

I personally have an appeal to the govt. to take  necessary action amd activities towards helpless people. They have also rights to live.Despite investments by successive central or state governments, it is time to review the long term cost-benefit analysis of measures undertaken and see whether the solutions attempted so far have addressed the problem at its root.

   Composer- 

 Hitesh prankul Barman.M-9085881642.

 _______________________________________________________________________

.