‘THE FLOOD THAT FLOODED MINDS’
Fr.B.M.Thomas (Bombay Diocese of the Indian Orthodox Malankara Church) – Contributing Author – OCP News Service
In the late July through mid August 2018, severe floods affected the southern state of India, Kerala, due to unusually high monsoon rainfalls. It was Kerala’s worst disaster in nearly a century. Hundreds of people died and many lakhs were rendered homeless. All the 14 districts of the state were placed on red alert. According to the local government reports, about one fifth of the population was directly affected by the floods. The rivers in the state were in a state of spate, and a sudden opening of 35 out of the 54 dam sluices caused even greater misery. It was in 1924 that such a flood of almost equal intensity had hit Kerala. The deluge of 1924 was smaller, but the impact was similar. Continuous rainfall in hilly places had resulted in heavy landslides in many places and thus making those areas isolated from the outside world. Apart from human lives, a great number of animals, both domestic and wild were also lost in the flood. Official reports endorse the deaths of more than 8000 cattle, calves, buffalos, 3300 goats, 47 dogs, two tigers and five elephants too. Flora and fauna too was affected severely. Someone rightly has quoted ‘rains are tricky, in the beginning they thrill you, but its excess can kill you’. Although it is a time of great misery and it will take a span of many years to restore everything to normalcy, the flood was a great pedagogue and an epiphany of certitude.
STRIVING TOGETHER
Keralites taught the world that we can stand after a fall only if we are united. It was a thing of great pride and lessons that Kerala yearned to strive together as a fraternity to overcome the catastrophic flood. As rightly said by Kerala Chief Minister in his address, “Kerala exhibited monumental strength to bounce back from this tragedy”. When the floods affected the fellow humans, they set apart all barriers of religion, castes, political interests and ideological differences. The mission was set, not by any government or any power, but by the humanity that existed in all the Keralites, ‘to be one and save a life’. As St.Paul exhorts, in I Corinthians 12:12 There is one Body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. In fact, he speaks about the church, but it is no wonder how true that it was in the case of our homeland. The Malayalees (Natives of Kerala) are good at trolls. Social media groups that are ‘trolling centres’ were transformed into information dissemination groups for the flood victims. The youths exchanging trolls on the opposing political parties were now seen exchanging co-ordinates of the stranded victims through these social media platforms. These were connected to the rescuers, and also large groups of youths, otherwise fully engaged on their smart phones were seen collecting relief materials for the affected and building relief camps.
SELFLESS SERVICE
In the midst of the misfortune that had happened, everyone was seen with a yearning for helping the fellow one. Keralites we’re doing all things they can from all quarters possible. Businessmen were providing their heavy vehicles for transportation and rescue operations, Fishermen were toying with their life to save maximum lives as possible, youths were busy in circulating news and whereabouts through the social media, and also actively participating in the rescue operations. The non resident keralites were seen pouring in supplies and monetary aids, no one seeking credits, no one seeking attention, all were busy in their humanitarian efforts.
MORAL SUPPORT
Complaints are a commonly seen after such devastating calamities. But here it was the true reverse. All were pushing each other to do their part better. All complimented each other. While the military was complimented for their valor, the fishermen were complimented for their fearless swift service. The volunteers were seen patting each other’s back and acknowledging help from all quarters.
CALAMITY AS A CHANCE
Disaster should always be seen as an opportunity. Kerala is called as “God’s own Country”. It is very famous for its rustic beauty and incredibly picturesque landscape. The quiet backwaters and beautiful hills attract many tourists from worldwide. Utmost literacy, vibrant media activity, progressive social development and an active community in and outside Kerala with worldwide presence are the pros that a state like Kerala possesses to tackle such situations and definitely these will help build up a more efficient, irrepressible, effective community.
RECREATING FOR A SUPERIOR TOMMORROW
There is a great idea, and it should be implemented here too “Build Back the Better”. The risk of being in the earthquake mishap zone should be the key concern while planning rebuilding plans of an earthquake hit place. Earthquakes never kill people, it’s the bad buildings those are the culprits. The goal should be to build flood resistant houses, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. Apart from the rebuilding of the infrastructure, it may be seen that at some invisible areas like mental health and psychological consequences of the disaster, some attention is needed. Mental health impacts of disasters have catastrophic impacts on the psyche, health and economy. For people to completely recover and the economy to be stable, embedding of a psychological first aid and mental health is a must. There are cases where loss inflicted by any natural calamity will make the survivor alcoholic, a person who has encountered a massive car crash will be afraid then over to drive or even board any car. Big disasters leave lasting scars on young minds too, so psychological and mental care is a must. Also more important point from all the above is to give nature the first priority while rebuilding the losses. If we love nature and do not disturb the course of it, it will never see us destroyed. As seen in Genesis 2:15, God blesses man by putting him in the garden of Eden and making him the caretaker of that garden, but present humans have become so selfish that they have turned out to be the destroyer of nature.
It is a truth that the Earth is warming and we are witnessing an increase in the frequency of floods and storms. Disasters and disease outbreaks are never a death sentence, and that was proved correct by the Kerala people, both In Kerala Keralites and Out Kerala Keralites. But we should, further, be more careful while dealing with Nature, as there goes a famous saying ‘prevention is better than cure’.
Source:
OCP News Service
