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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, July 30: The United States weather expert, Ants Leitmaa, was the first to press the panic button. Late last month, announcing the arrival of El Nino, a South American current which can cause climatic changes across several continents, he predicted a bad monsoon in India.
The waves his warning set off have not subsided. However, although the country has recorded below normal rains in most parts, Indian weathermen are not worried.
“Despite what the prophets of gloom in the West are predicting, our observations from meteorological centres across the country indicate a normal monsoon,” says N Sen Roy, Director General of Meteorology.
The optimism of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), however, is belied by the situation on the ground in many areas. Most States have recorded less-than-normal rainfall. Scanty rainfall in large parts of Orissa have led people to migrate in search of drinking water. Andhra Pradesh too is facing drought conditions. And the temptation to blame the lack of rains on El Nino is growing.
Named after the child Christ, El Nino is a weather phenomenon beginning off the coast of Peru during Christmas time resulting in an abrupt warming of the waters of the Pacific Ocean and causing hurricanes, floods and droughts in its wake.
The last time the El Nino struck in a bad way in 1982, the damage was devastating in countries like Peru and Ecuador. In the same year India had one of its worst droughts when rainfall was 14 per cent less than normal.The nearly four degree rise in temperature of the Pacific waters has its repercussions on weather the world over. As the water warms up, the air above it gets warmer and rises.
