The district suffers following major natural hazards – floods, chemical disasters (fire), draught, famine and earthquake, which are of high frequency of occurrence. In the past years, flood has become a sorrow for the people of Dibrugarh District. Immediately after the great Independence Day earthquake of 1950, consequent land slides in the catchments areas of Brahmaputra and other tributaries have changed the topography of the rivers. The impact was so memorable that river Brahmaputra changed its course with a raised bed. A number of public and private buildings along with major portion of Dibrugarh town were rapidly devoured by Brahmaputra within a shortspan of couple of years