Can Kerala fight back?

In past few weeks Kerala has gone through the worst time the country has ever seen. It is one of the Horrendous calamity  the country had ever striked with.The current situation in Kerala is that the rain has stopped and the water is beginning to recede, but the trail of destruction is absolutely horrifying. Over 80000 km of roads had been destroyed, 50000 plus homes has either damaged or washed away. 39 bridges are down. Around 1 million people has been displaced who are either living in temporary shelter and camps or are with relative and friends.

According to the stats over 350+ lives has been lost and some people are still missing. There is a big loss to livelihood as many farmers has lost their fields which were their only source of earnings. Electricity supplies has gone down, many infrastructure projects and business are turned off due to the loss of resources. Kochi airport has shut down for approximately two weeks. There is a big recovery and rehabilitation job lying ahead with a long term rebuilding and reconstruction task.

The main issue lying ahead is from where the resources and money for rebuilding Kerala will come. India had already put down all the foreign aids for Kerala. Firstly, stats needs to be drawn on how to rebuild the state that the same damage won’t happen again. There are many pakka houses which needs to be reconstructed again. Flood line mapping needs to be done to prevent future disasters. Water system like canals and rivers needs to be diverted into safe and technical manner. For all of this  a technological expertise is something which should be the first priority.

The country should see whether it can meet the needs with its own resources. Approximately over 20000 crore rupees is what the current situation is demanding. Can the central government afford it? Seriously not when it comes to spending this huge amount on a single state. If see the past, when cyclone Ochki striked Kerala over 7400 Crores was what demanded but the CG ended up paying only 133 crore rupees. There is a huge difference between the mismatch done and the needs of state. The same is what lying here. At the time of calamity emergency, Kerala government asked for 2000 crores of rupees but the CG paid only 500 crores for instant help.

There were many buildings and infrastructure projects which were already built , but were badly damaged due to the calamity. It’s not like rebuilding Uttarakhand or Bihar as Kerala is much more intensely developed areas of India. Therefore India’s own resources are simply not enough to meet with the demands. In 2001 when Gujrat was striked by an earthquake, an international Reconstruction conference was been called on Bhuj to meet out the expenses required to rebuild the state. People from UN, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other donor governments successfully funded over 1.7 billion dollars. Including 42 million dollar from UN alone.

It’s not about begging bowls  or taking favour from international states. It’s all about accepting the current situation and working forward to it. Many countries and UN itself are standing ready to  help the Kerala. It’s a task where the rest of the world would be happy to participate in. Let’s not rebuild Kerala. Rebuild Kerala better!