Paragraph on the Effects of Floods on Human Life

Here is your short paragraph on the effects of floods on Human life!

Floods have multipronged effects on human life. A more frightening fact is that floods are becoming more damaging as their frequency, intensity and magnitude increases with the passage of time.

The most damaging effect of floods is the colossal loss of life and property. The other losses include damage to crops, cattle loss break down of communication, dislocation of transport system and disruption of essential services.

Earlier the impact of floods was not as intense and widespread as it is now. There are several reasons for this deteriorating condition.

Floods are becoming more frequent and furious due to ecological degradation such as deforestation. Moreover, the population in India is increasing at a rapid pace and even the areas prone to floods, such as flood plains and even river beds are inhabited by the people.

The principle ‘where a river has the right of way stay out of its way’ is not followed by the people who have little option in setting themselves or locating industrial projects. In fact floods cause more damage than any other single disaster. India is the most flood affected country in the world next only to Bangladesh.

About 20 per cent of the global deaths caused by floods in the world are in India. Bangladesh accounts for about 5 per cent of the total. The most severely affected are generally the poor people because they live on the periphery of human habitat. Table 8.10 gives an idea of flood damages in India.

TABLE 8.10 Annual Average Flood Damages (based on data from 1953 onwards):

	Damage Head	Magnitude
1.	Land area affected	7.56 million hectare
2.	Population affected	32.03 million
3.	Human lives lost	1,504 number
4.	Livestock lost	96,713
5.	Houses damaged	11,683 (Rs. 136.615 crore)
6.	Crop damaged	Rs. 460.07 crore
7.	Public utilities damaged	Rs. 377.248 crore
	Total Losses	Rs. 982.126 crore