The full scale of the tragedy in Maharashtra is not yet evident; the rain has prevented that. While Mumbai struggles with an unthinkable situation and begins to confront its death and damage, the 60 villages close by that have been rendered unreachable seem to be waiting like new arenas of tragedy. There is again a death toll in the accident at Bombay High, in which a ship, out of control in a turbulent sea, hit a production platform and caused a fire. There is something monstrous about the rainfall, which reached 944.2 millimetres in 24 hours. It is the highest recorded rainfall in 95 years and not even Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, efficient, focussed, ceaselessly at work, can cope with that. The best infrastructure would totter under such torrents, and Mumbai?s spread includes the very poor and the very rich. The damage to the poor, living in shanties in low-lying areas, is difficult to imagine.

Nature can be catastrophic, but in it nothing happens without cause. Besides, rainfall is not an earthquake that it cannot be predicted. Two questions cannot be avoided. Was there no way to predict something of what was coming to Mumbai? The second question is of larger scope: what is the sequence of causes and effects that is resulting in rain of such intensity, first in Gujarat, then in Maharashtra? Or, what is causing droughts in regions that should be rain-soaked in a certain season while the rain is travelling elsewhere and drowning others? There is a sense of inadequate knowledge about what is happening to India?s climate. This may be untrue; if so, ordinary people need to be told in clearer terms what might be happening. It is also necessary to understand exactly how far people themselves, their governments and businessmen, have contributed to the causes of imbalance, if any. Mumbai and Maharashtra have taken the brunt of the natural disaster this time. Mumbai functions better than many other places in the country. Its work culture and the spirit of its people are particularly in evidence during a period of disaster. Mumbai is also far more in the news, when it stops functioning the whole of India?s transactions are affected. Other places would be far worse off even if the disasters are smaller. It is upto the scientists to tell the people and their governments when and where and why this kind of thing can happen. It is only then that ways of protection can be arranged.