Hazards in Madhya Pradesh :

The State of Madhya Pradesh is vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters owning to its unique geoclimatic features and the industrial establishments. The major applicable natural hazards for the State are earthquake, floods, drought, fire, etc. Currently the state is separated into 10 divisions, 50 districts, 272 tehsils, and 313 community development blocks. Out of that, there are 28 districts that come under Zone – III and 22 districts come under Zone – II of Earthquake.

Likewise in last 30 years there are 32 districts of the State affected from the flood and around 7 districts highly affected from drought. Other than the Natural disasters, the State is also vulnerable to manmade disasters. The Bhopal gas tragedy was one of the worst manmade disasters in history of the State. The tragedy took an immediate toll of about 3000 innocent lives and left thousands and thousands of innocent citizens physically impaired or affected in various degrees. There are more than 400 industries operational in various districts, out of which around 256 are registered with Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board. The others are however operational but are running on their own risks. So, if look at the state of Madhya Pradesh overall, then will find that the people of Madhya Pradesh are at higher risk. Further, the state of Madhya Pradesh is also prone to frost and frequent accidents, in the recent past. All the key hazards will be addressed one by one.

1. Flood Hazard :  Among all the natural hazards, affecting the State of Madhya Pradesh, floods are most frequent and devastating. In other words, the state is highly prone to flood hazard. As per the data available from the Revenue Department, the state has faced severe floods in the year of 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2012. It was also observed that more than 80% of the annual rainfall is concentrated over a short monsoon period of 3 months. This leads to heavy siltation, flash floods and poor discharge of flood waters, and thus sometimes even the embankments are breached due to this reason. After analyzing the previous data of last 30 years pertaining to floods, all the 50 districts now have been categorized into 3 categories of flood hazard: Low, Medium and High.

• High flood Hazard districts are those, in which flood occurred more than 8 times since 1982, in last 30 years. These districts are marked in Orange on the map.
• Moderate level flood Hazard districts are those, in which flood occurred 6 to 8 times, since 1982, in last 30 years. These districts are marked in Pink on the map.
• Low level flood Hazard districts are those, in which floods have occurred for less than 5 times since 1982, in last 30 years. These districts can also be seen in the attached map, colored with Yellow. Further, annexure can be referred to view past record of flooding in Madhya Pradesh.

Drought Hazard : After the flood hazard, the next severe hazard applicable to the state is Drought. On the basis of the data available of last 30 years, it was observed that the pattern of drought in the state is of a varied one, sometimes affecting the entire state, sometimes a few regions, and sometimes a few districts. However the contiguous patches of 7 districts have been identified as chronic drought prone districts. The districts have been classified into highly drought prone, moderate drought prone and less drought prone.

2. Eartquake Hazard : It is another major hazard applicable to the state of Madhya Pradesh. In major parts of the state, seismicity is moderately high. Especially, in the recent past, a couple of events triggered the entire state (including the 1997 Jabalpur Earthquake). After that, the earthquake is being taken quite seriously here. However, as per Vulnerability Atlas of India 2007, there are 28 districts come under Zone III, and 22 districts come under Zone II of earthquake. In addition to it, a state level Madhya Pradesh Earthquake Study has been carried out just recently.  And as per the recent categorization, some of the districts have been categorized under high seismic zone IV (earthquake prone high risk zone), and rest of those have been covered under zone III and zone II. Hence on the basis of the Vulnerability Atlas of India, and recently carried out MP Earthquake Study, the districts have been categorized into the Medium and Low hazard prone. In the district wise hazard analysis table, earthquake hazard has been categorized into following: Medium earthquake prone districts are those, which come under the moderately high risk Zone III, and Low earthquake prone districts are those, which come under Low damage risk Zone II. 

3. Industrial Hazard : Over the years, there is substantial increase in the industrial activities in the state. Many industries in the state store handle and process large volume of the hazardous chemicals. This can cause potential damage to the employees, surrounding community and the environment, in general. The industries, dealing with hazardous chemicals above certain limit, are known as Major Accident Hazard (MAH) Units. In Madhya Pradesh, many industrial accidents have been occurred so far, including the mega disaster of Union Carbide, Bhopal 1984. The tragedy took toll of 2500 lives (on record), further there is a long list of affected people in thousands, which are still suffering from the chronic diseases due to the inhalation of poisonous MIC(Methyl isocyanate) gas.