No One had a Tongue to Speak: The Untold Story of One of History’s Deadliest Floods
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Utpal Sandesara and Tom Wooten
Raintree, 411 pages, R495
On 11 August 1979, after a week of incessant rain, the Machhu Dam-II in Gujarat disintegrated, the waters of its reservoir swamping the industrial city of Morbi and the agricultural villages surrounding it. An estimated 25,000 people were killed. The authors recreate the story of the flood in a compelling narrative that portrays an India torn between its feudal past and industrial future, and the humanitarian and environmental consequences of rapid yet shortsighted growth.
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