Human Settlement

Concept: Resettlement—Causes and Effects

What is resettlement?

• Resettlement is the movement of a large group of people from one region to a distant area.
• It happens due to forced migration, mostly due to natural or man-made disasters and bad economic conditions.
• Due to resettlement, people often lose valuable economic assets like houses or lands, jobs, cultural identity, etc.
• After the resettlement, proper rehabilitation for the newly resettled community is mandatory to safeguard them in the new environment.

Causes of resettlement:

The causes of resettlement can be of the following types—

1. Natural Disasters: These are one of the significant causes behind resettlement.

a) Earthquakes:

• An earthquake is a natural disaster caused by the sudden shaking of the earth’s surface.
• The earth’s crust is made of several plates known as tectonic plates.
• These tectonic plates constantly move on the earth’s mantle.
• While floating, when one tectonic plate slide over another one, an earthquake occurs.
• From the zone of the slide over, shock waves spread in all directions, which causes sudden shaking of the earth’s surface.
• Earthquakes can destroy an entire habitat, including trees, concrete roads, buildings, bridges, etc.
• They can induce a sudden outbreak of fire.
• Many people die and get injured due to the severity of an earthquake.
• As earthquakes cause extensive destruction of properties, people may need other places for resettlement.

b) Floods:

• Floods happen when a dry land area suddenly becomes waterlogged due to the overflow of water.
• It may happen for various reasons, like continuous heavy rainfall over a long time.
• The water overflows from adjacent lakes, rivers, or reservoirs.
• Floods may cause deadly water-borne diseases like jaundice, cholera, typhoid, dengue, malaria, etc.
• They destroy vegetation, livestock, properties, and valuable belongings.

c) Tsunami:

• A tsunami is a massive ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption.
• A tsunami can produce a series of enormous waves that can cause severe damage to man-made structures.
• When earthquakes happen underwater, the ocean floor suddenly lifts or slides down, causing a sudden displacement of the ocean water that creates massive waves.
• After the tsunami, many water-borne diseases spread, causing severe health hazards.
• The huge waves formed by a tsunami are fatal as they can destroy houses and buildings and kill or injure people.

d) Cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons:

• Cyclones, hurricanes, or typhoons are tropical storms mainly affecting coastal areas.
• During these storms, strong winds continuously spin around a centre.
• These storms always form above the warm ocean and hit land with heavy rains and strong winds.
• During cyclones, winds blow around 120 kilometres per hour.
• Such strong winds can uproot trees and can cause severe damage to life and property.
• After the storm subsides, places remain waterlogged for a long time, resources get destroyed, and drinking water gets contaminated, which makes normal life difficult in the affected areas.

e) Wildfires:

• A wildfire is a massive, destructive, and uncontrolled fire that takes place in a forested area.
• Forest fires can happen for many reasons, and the causes could be natural or man-made.
• A lightning strike in a dry forest can cause fire that may destroy the whole forest.
• Sometimes these forest fires happen from campfires or lit cigarettes.
• Forest fires mainly destroy trees and shrubs, which are good resources for the local people dependent on forest products.

f) Droughts:

• A drought happens when a particular area does not get sufficient rainfall for a long period.
• It is an effect of a continuous period of dry weather.
• Crops and other plants do not grow in drought-affected areas due to the absence of water.
• Droughts can transform fertile land into a desert.
• Droughts can cause famine, and people may start to resettle in other fertile places to improve their lives.

g) Volcanic eruption:

• During a volcanic eruption, magma erupts from the opening of the volcano.
• The magma released from a volcano when it comes out is called lava. It has a high temperature and is fatal for all living organisms.
• A volcanic eruption can cause wildfires and destroy human habitats.
• It also destroys agricultural lands and deteriorates the water quality of the affected area.
• These are the reasons why people may need to resettle in other places after volcanic eruptions.

h) Landslides:

• Landslides happen when rocks, sand, and mud roll down the mountain slopes.
• They cause massive destruction because while moving down the slope, the rocks, mud, pebbles, and sand sweep away everything that falls on their paths, like houses, trees, shops, streetlights, etc.
• Roads and rivers are also blocked due to landslides.
• Landslides cause fatal accidents to humans and animals and destroy natural vegetation.
• Mostly deforestation and excessive rainfall are the reasons for landslides.

2. Man-made disasters: man-made incidents that force people to resettle in other areas are described below.

a) Industrial accidents:

• Industrial accidents may lead to the sudden discharge of toxic materials that may contaminate land and water.
• When people breathe this polluted air or drink contaminated water, they fall sick.
• Industrial accidents are fatal for all living beings.
• These accidents do not permanently destroy the habitat but make it unfit for living.

b) Collapse of dams:

• A dam collapses or bursts due to the sudden, uncontrolled release of excess water.
• Dam bursts can kill people and destroy homes.
• A dam failure causes flooding, and floods cause habitat destruction of both humans and animals, along with the occurrence of many water-borne diseases.

c) Urbanisation:

• Urbanisation is a continuous process in which a group of people moves from rural to urban areas, gradually congesting them.
• People move to the cities for many causes—more industries, better job opportunities, good communication, advanced medical facilities, and proper educational institutes.
• Apart from all these, people get a lot of social benefits in the cities rather than in villages.

Effects of resettlement:

a) Conflict over resources:

• When a large group of people resettles at a specific place, they leave everything behind to start a fresh life in the newly shifted place.
• It is obvious that all of them have to struggle for resources.
• The resource is mainly limited in the environment, so proper resource partitioning is necessary in society for everyone’s well-being.
• Resources include food, water, sunlight, soil, natural gas, electricity, etc.

b) Lack of jobs:

• When a large group of people resettles in another place, at least one person from every family should have a stable income to sustain life.
• In a new place, getting a job is challenging.
• So, resettled people often find it tougher to get a good job and live a well-off life.

c) Social and cultural issues:

• Sometimes the children of resettled people suffer from an identity crisis in the new environment.
• Suppose the family is resettled in a place where others are culturally different from them. In that case, the family struggles to understand and become familiar with the new cultural and social norms.
• A good idea and realising the new culture are equally crucial for social mixing.

d) Changes in the traditions of tribal people:

• Tribal people are culturally different from us as they have different customs, laws, and regulations.
• When tribal people resettle in other places, they lose the rich tradition of their indigenous culture and have to do jobs they are not experts at.
• Tribal people are mostly hunters, woodcutters, or work on agricultural lands.

e) Deforestation and extinction of wildlife:

• When a group of people resettles in a distant region, new houses are built for their accommodation.
• For this reason, forested areas are cleared, leading to deforestation.
• As a result, the number of animals residing in that area decreases rapidly.
• Many plants and animals have been tagged as rare or endangered due to this reason.

New Words:

Did You Know?

• When a war breaks out in a country, people often start to resettle in other countries and are tagged as refugees.

• The common civet has become a rare animal because of habitat destruction due to urbanisation and resettlement.

• Many governmental and non-governmental organisations set up rehabilitation programmes for resettled people at various places to support them.