CHENNAI:“Understanding the actual reasons behind natural calamities is important and is lacking in our society,” said Arun Krishnamurthy, founder of Environmentalist Foundation of India, while speaking at an audience-moderated session on Chennai’s lakes at Lalit Kala Akademi here on Sunday.
Emphasising the importance of telling the people the truth about natural calamities such as floods to arrive at a constructive solution, he cited common misconceptions like the one related to the 2015 Chennai floods, which said floods were due to the release of water from Chembarambakkam reservoir.
“The infamous Mudichur flooding was a disaster in the offing since the 1990s,” he said, explaining the link between Chennai’s three rivers, 300 lakes and marshlands and their combined role in draining water into the sea.
Arun showed how ignorance of our water resources also played a role in our disregard for it. His story about the Manimangalam war between the Vijayanagar empire and the Pandavas, which was fought beside the Manimangalam lake, surprised majority of the audience.First-hand accounts of changing topographies in lakes in their areas by members of the audience also came as a shock to others.
“The second biggest lake in the city, Puzhal lake went dry last year,” said L Anbarasan, a resident of North Chennai, who also highlighted the plight of the Ennore creek. While one member of the audience attributed the problem to “development”, others agreed that blaming development was only part of the solution.The session was organised by the Goethe Institute.