August 2017 southasiadisasters.net 1

southasiadisasters.netAugust 2017 1

southasiadisasters.net August 20172

ABOUT THIS ISSUEINTRODUCTION

Floods as an Opportunity

In 2017 South Asia was ravaged byunprecedented flooding that affected

close to 41 million people across India,Bangladesh and Nepal. While the deathand destruction unleashed by thesefloods is tragic, it also represents anopportunity to learn the necessarylessons to set South Asia firmly onto asafer and greener development trajectory.

By highlighting the existing gaps in theresponse, preparedness and reliefactivities undertaken by various stateand non-state actors the key problemshave been identified. This present issueof Southasiadisasters.net aims to just that.

Local flood studies that explore andaccount for local action, results, andopportunities are needed to build upbottom up knowledge resources forSouth Asia wide actions on floods.River basin or national flood plans area first step but not enough any more.

AIDMI's recent work in Nepal andBangladesh finds that two items inflood management can be made moreeffective. One, delivering floodmanagement results and two, workingin partnership with government andnon-government actors in floodmanagement. There two need moreattention.

It is time to move ahead from projectand programme approach to systemicapproach to flood management andmitigation. In recent years, the politicalleadership has greatly influencednational and sub-national priorities andprocesses of development. How canthese influences be directed tounfinished development agendas suchas decentralised and ecosystem-basedflood mitigation in a time bound manner?

Floods simply do not result in theinundation of an area alone; they alsoresult in the displacement of people,halting of economic activity andlargescale livelihood disruption. Theseare just a few of the detrimental impactsof floods which pose a challenge to thelocal and national institutions. It is time

to look ahead to even greater systemicchallenges — poor connectivity, limitedrole of private sector, and knowledgemanagement — and start evolvingsuitable solutions for them till 2030.

Floods do not spare the hotspots ofterrorism or conflict and as a result posea threat to people and prosperity inrecovery. Estimates suggest over 100districts in India alone suffer from sucha double threat. Almost each countryin South Asia has similar conflictaffected areas. Thus, floods impact localsecurity, governance, and human rightsprotection.

Local faith based organisation can bebrought in more directly to think finda way out. In India Shri Sadguru hastaken on initiative titled "Save ourrivers" that can be one such example.In Colombo, Partnership for Faith andDevelopment is organising largest everevent titled “Localizing Response toHumanitarian Need: The Role ofReligious and Faith-basedOrganisations”, October 16 to 18, 2017,for local faith organisations.

For years Asian Disaster PreparednessCenter (ADPC) in Bangkok has runregional training courses on disastermanagement providing necessary andfundamental knowledge and skills inflood risk management. Inputs for firstsources came from Duryog Nivaran.Perhaps it is time to take such capacitybuilding initiatives to empower localcommunities with the adequateresponse and preparedness capacities torespond to the challenges of flooding.

Traditional knowledge systems forflood management have existed forcenturies in South Asia. It is vital thatwe leverage this traditional wisdomand use it in conjunction with modernDRR techniques. One of the mosteminent scenographers of our times,Rajeev Sethi, calls South Asia's legacyof traditional knowledge systems,including of local flood management,has awed the world but will wither awayif not conserved. – Mihir R. Bhatt

In 2017, South Asia wasravaged by devastating

floods that causedwidespread death anddestruction. It has beenestimated that these floodshave led to 1,200 casualtiesand affected 40 millionpeople across India, Nepaland Bangladesh. India isperhaps one of the mostflood prone countries in theworld. The 2017 floods haveraised some very serious andinconvenient questionsabout the country'spreparedness to such floods.

This issue ofSouthasiadisasters.net is titled"India Floods 2017" andfocuses on how the floods in2017 have affected differentregions of country and thedamage suffered by them. Italso tries to examine India'sunderlying vulnerability tofloods which has beenexacerbated in recent yearsmainly due to unplanneddevelopment, highpopulation density &settlement of people in floodplains, old infrastructure,weak river embankmentsand also increase in extremeevents, including highrainfall in a short duration.

This issue analyses theserepeated incidents offlooding in the countrythrough a systemic lens thattakes an interdisciplinaryand multi-sectoralperspective of India'sflooding problem.

– Kshitij Gupta


EFFECTIVE PREPAREDNESS

Note on Flood Situation

Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh andArunachal Pradesh continue to

bear the brunt of floods as the deathtoll rises. According to the statedisaster management authorities ofUttar Pradesh and Bihar, 415 peoplehave died in the floods in two stateswhere more than 10 million peoplewere affected.

According to the Bihar State DisasterManagement Authority (BSDMA)229,000 people had beenrehabilitated across 1,085 reliefcamps in the state. Even PrimeMinister Narendra Modi conductedan aerial survey to assess the extentof flood damage on Saturday.

"We have 21 teams that are workingacross Uttar Pradesh and severalteams working in Bihar. Withassistance from the Indian Air Force,a lot of affected people have beenairlifted to safety. The relief andrescue operations are ongoing inboth states," a National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) releasestated.

A home ministry official stated thateven though relief work wasceaselessly being carried out acrossboth states in the flood affecteddistricts, the overflowing of severalrivers and constant rains tended toslow down rescue operations.

Besides claiming hundreds of lives,the floods have also destroyedvillages and crops across the north-eastern region. Hundreds ofthousands of people across severalstates are living in relief camps.

But it is not just humans, thousandsof animals including cattle are alsosuffering and fighting for their lives.

Meanwhile, the death toll fromfloods sweeping entire South Asia

has climbed above 1,000notwithstanding the brave efforts ofthe rescue teams who have done anexceptional job to reach out tomillions of stranded people by theregion's worst monsoon disaster inrecent years.

Thousands of army soldiers anddisaster management force and paramilitary troops have been deployedacross India, Bangladesh and Nepal,where authorities say a total of 1,013bodies have been recovered since 10August, when intense rainfall beguncausing floods in Indian states andneighbouring Nepal andBangladesh.

Though all three countries sufferfrequent flooding during themonsoon rains, the Red Cross hastermed the latest disaster as "theworst in decades" in some parts ofSouth Asia. It says entirecommunities have been cut off andmany are short of food and cleanwater as the tragedy prolongsamidst continuing rains.

"It has been a difficult year," saidAnil Shekhawat, spokesman forIndia's National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF). "In the last fewmonths there have been floods inwestern, eastern and northern partsof the country," Shekhawat said.

In Bihar, the state disastermanagement authorities said deathtoll climbed to 367. According toAnirudh Kumar, a top state disastermanagement official, there are stillnearly 11 million people affected in19 districts of the state. He addednearly 450,000 flood evacuees hadtaken shelter in government refuges.In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh,floods have swamped nearly half ofthis vast state of 220 million, thecountry's most populous region.

Disaster management agencyspokesman Mr. T.P. Gupta said that86 people had died and more thantwo million were affected by thedisaster there.

The state borders Nepal, where 146people have died and 80,000 homesdestroyed in what the UnitedNations is calling the worst floodingin 15 years. Nepal's home ministrywarned the death toll could rise asrelief teams reach more remote partsof the impoverished country.

The situation was slowly easing inWest Bengal and Assam, two stateswhere 223 people had already died.Floods in Assam—the second waveto hit the state in less than fourmonths—have wrought widespreaddestruction, killing 71 people andforcing animals to seek higherground. One Bengal tiger and 15 rareone-horned rhinos were found deadand conservationists feared therecould be further loss of life.

In West Bengal, where 152 peoplehave died, hundreds of thousandshave escaped submerged villages byboats and makeshift rafts to reachgovernment aid stations set up bythe state administration.

Across the border in Bangladesh,water levels were slowly returningto normal in the main Brahmaputraand Ganga rivers. The government'sdisaster response body said the deathtoll stood at 137, with more than 7.5million affected since flooding hitthe riverine nation.

Every year hundreds die inlandslides and floods during themonsoon season that hits India'ssouthern tip in early June and sweepsacross the South Asia region for fourmonths.

– AIDMI Team


REDUCING RISK

India Floods 2017

Floods have been a recurrentphenomenon in India that lead

to huge losses to lives, properties,livelihood systems, infrastructureand public utilities. As a matter offact, 12% of the total landmass of thecountry (40 million hectare) is floodprone1.

Furthermore, as on August 18, 2017,25 states2 in the country aresusceptible to floods, the mostvulnerable States are Assam, Bihar,Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal,Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, AndhraPradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab andJammu & Kashmir. Similarly asmany as 137 districts3 are vulnerableto floods.

In the recent years, the vulnerabilityof the states to floods has increasedexponentially, mainly due tounplanned development, highpopulation density & settlement ofpeople in flood plains, oldinfrastructure, weak riverembankments and also increase inextreme events, including highrainfall in a short duration. In July2017, India experienced yet anotherwave of flooding due to excessiverains in the monsoon season. Thestates of Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan,Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Tripuraand West Bengal faced massivefloods in many parts, which led to

human casualties in hundreds,extensive damage to infrastructureand also severely affected theanimals. The Inter-MinisterialCentral Team visited Assam to takestock of situation, and PrimeMinister Mr. Modi himself visitedGujarat flood affected areas. It showsseriousness at the apex level.

The cumulative rainfall wasrecorded in excess, in June and July2017, in most States of India. In India,Central Water Commission is NodalAgency for flood forecasting. Theyhave at present 221 FloodForecasting Stations4 spread across24 States & UTs. They are expectedto provide flood advisories to StateGovernments with help of IMD.Country also has National Guidelinesfor Management of Floods (2008,NDMA). However there is a longway to go for flood prevention andmitigation in India. It's high time totake concrete actions by all concernedagencies on the ground to addressthis pertinent issue.

Gujarat FloodsIncessant torrential rain due tosimultaneous activation of ArabianSea and Bay of Bengal low-pressuresystems (a rare phenomenon) hasresulted into floods in many part ofGujarat this year. Districts ofBanaskantha, Patan, Rajkot,

1 NDMA Guidelines 20082 BMTPC Vulnerability Atlas 20073 Flood Management Module, NIDM, 20124 Central Water Commission Website5 https://sphereindiablog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/28-07-2017-sitrep-2-situation-reports-in-india.pdf (July 28, 2017)6 http://ahmedabadmirror.indiatimes.com/news/india/rains-batter-ahmedabad-gandhinagar-over-54000-relocated/

articleshow/59797361.cms (July 27, 2017)7 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/rs-6-lakh-compensation-for-kin-of-deceased/articleshow/

59780580.cms (July 27, 2017)8 http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/torrential-rain-flood-damage-25-kharif-sowing-in-gujarat-

117072700069_1.html (July 27, 2017)

Surendranagar, Ahmedabad, Morbi,Gandhinagar, Kutch, Mehsana andValsad are hit by the large-scaleflooding. Banaskantha and Patan areamong the worst-hit districts in thestate due to heavy rains and floodingof the Banas and Sipu rivers.Dhanera block Banaskatha districtwas worst affected and wasinaccessible therefore the damagesare estimated to be higher in theblock as reported by IAG members5.

The floods have impacted lives andlivelihoods, including education andpublic transportation by damagingroads, highways, rail lines andairports. Besides the State DisasterResponse Force and fire brigadepersonnel, the National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF), the AirForce and the Army were deployedfor the rescue of marooned villagers.According to state administrationofficials 54,517 people were shiftedto safer places over the last one-weekdue to flooding of low-lying areas6.

So far, 119 deaths have been reportedfrom across the state since monsoonbegan7. 'Torrential rain and flooding,especially in north and Saurashtra,have resulted in at least 25 per centloss in kharif sowing across cropssuch as cotton, groundnut, castor,pulses, guar and cereals.'8 About 492villages have no power supply, out


Number of deaths reported by State Control Rooms and National Control Room as on 31st July 2017Name of State No of reported deaths due to Source of information

floods, heavy rainfallGujarat 218 Gujarat State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC)Assam 82 National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Ministry

Of Home Affairs (MHA)West Bengal 39 West Bengal Control RoomRajasthan 43 NDMA, MHAUttarakhand 19 NDMA, MHAUttar Pradesh 9 NDMA, MHAOdisha 4 NDMA, MHA

of which 418 villages are inBanaskantha district.9

After conducting an aerial inspectionof the area with his team, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasannounced some ex-gratia of Rs 2lakh for the family of deceasedpersons, Rs 50,000 for those whohave suffered injuries, apart from aRs 500 crore relief package for thedeluged districts.10 A day after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi announcedcompensation of Rs 2 lakh for floodvictims, the state government onWednesday declared that it wouldpay Rs 4 lakh ex gratia to the kin ofthe deceased.11

Latest reported figures by the StateEmergency Operation Center,Gandhinagar (27.07.2017):

No of deaths: 126 (of which 43 diedin the district of Banaskatha)

Evacuations: 54516 (of which 34043are from Patan and Banaskathadistricts)

Electricity: 753 villages lostelectricity. Electricity in 526 villageshas been restored.

Information on roads closed: 5national highways, 156 statehighways and others and 550 roadsunder Panchayats

Cattle loss: 881 in Banaskatha district

According to the state authorities,more than 15 teams of NationalDisaster Response Force (NDRF) andAir Force, Army and Navy teams areinvolved in rescue operations in theinundated areas.

The Air Force has airlifted more than1000 people from villages whichwere completely cut off as roads andrailway networks were damaged,making the villages inaccessible. TheAir Force has deployed over adozen choppers for rescue works.Total number of people who wererescued is above 10,000 by agencieslike NDRF, Navy, Army and evenBSF.

Moreover, more than 50,000 peoplewere relocated by the variousagencies and authorities fromvulnerable and low lying areas inMorbi, Jamnagar, Rajkot,Surendranagar, Patan, Banaskantha,

9 http://theindianawaaz.com/relief-rescue-operations-in-full-swing-in-flood-hit-areas-of-gujarat-rajasthan/ (July 26, 2017)

10 http://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/pm-modi-grants-rs-500-crore-relief-for-victims-of-gujarat-flood/67022 (Jul 26, 2017)

1 1 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/rs-6-lakh-compensation-for-kin-of-deceased/articleshow/59780580.cms (July 27, 2017)

Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar andAravalli districts.

The central government hasannounced an interim package of Rs500 crore besides compensation ofRs two lakh to the families of thosewho have died in the floods. In aheartbreaking incident, 18 membersof a same family killed in floods ina village in Banaskantha.

With clear weather, the stategovernment has launched a massivesurvey to assess damages caused byfloods in the affected areas.

So what is the way out? It is hightime floods are explained in today'scontext. What they are and what theymean to India's growing economy;in addition to increasingvulnerability of India's developmentto floods. The myth that floods arerural problem is not true any more.Towns and his cities such asBengaluru, Mumbai and Chennaiface repeated floods.

A rapid review is needed toinstitutionalise flood risk reductionin India, including review of waterpolicies, and flood risk reductionplans and projects; review ofoperational guideline of Dam andriver basin management, and moredetailed, realistic, time basedsectoral and hotspot plans.

– Mehul Pandya withAmit Tuteja of AIDMI.


SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY

Floods in Bihar in 2017

The flooding situationexperienced by India is

deteriorating severely. The floodswreaked havoc in the states of Assam,Odisha, Gujarat, West Bengal andManipur. They are now unleashingtheir wrath on the state of Bihar.

The extent of flooding taking placein Bihar is unprecedented in itsrecent history. Not only have thesefloods led to widespread distress anddeprivation among the people of Bihar,they have also caused loss and damageto the state's growing economy.

As of August 16, 2017 the death tollfrom the floods in Bihar stands at72. Similarly, 73 lakh people across14 districts have been severelyaffected by the incessant rains inNepal and northern part of the state.This is not new, the rivers flowingout of Nepal into Bihar more andmore swell up during the monsoonsgiving rise to a lot of trans-boundary flooding risk for Bihar.

Mr. Anirudh Kumar, SpecialSecretary in the State DisasterManagement Department ofGovernment of Bihar has provideda disaggregated death toll accordingto districts. He has informed thatAraria district accounted for 20 flooddeaths, followed by Sitamarhi (11),West Champaran (9), Kisanganj (8),Madhubani and Purnea (5 each),Madhepura and Darbhanga (4 each),East Champaran (3), Sheohar (2) andSupual (1). Relatively low levels ofloss of life is worth noting.

He further apprised that 73.44 lakhpeople are in the grip of floods whichhave engulfed 110 blocks and 1,151panchayats spanning 14 districts ofBihar, which means nearly half of

the state's geographical area hasbeen flooded in 2017 monsoon so far.The local economy has taken asevere hit particularly theagriculture sector and the state'sartisans. This disaster has led to anexponential reduction in production,consumption and trade activities bythe low income families.

The special secretary has said that2.74 lakh people have beenevacuated and taken to safer placeswith special medical care and localefforts. Out of them, 1.16 lakh peoplehave been put up in 504 relief campsset up by the state authorities.Setting up camps that work is notan easy task in rural Bihar. A widerange of needs have come up fromfood to water to toilets to theeducation of children.

The state authorities and voluntaryorganizations have set upCommunity Kitchens for victims inmarooned areas and available linehotels, aganwadi kendras and railwaystations in Katihar district are beingused for running such kitchens, theprincipal secretary to the disastermanagement department, Shri

Pratyay Amrit said this week. TheBihar Risk Reduction Road Map isput to use to focus on key areas,sectors, and communities in need ofrelief and recovery.

Shri Pratyay Amrit held meetingsthrough video conferencing withdistricts officials and gave themdirections on helping the floodvictims and also launching rescueoperations whenever necessary.Saving lives is the highest priorityon Bihar's agenda. Reducing loss anddamage is second on the agenda.

The UNICEF in Bihar has developeda step-by-step way ahead to reducedisaster risks in Bihar. Lars Bernd,UNICEF, Delhi, in this process haspointed out to the power ofparticipation of citizens, and puttingchildren in the centre in responseand recovery.

Train services continue to be affecteddue to the calamity and railmovement is disrupted in manysections. As a result several trainspassing through these sections havebeen cancelled, diverted, shortterminated and short originated. This

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means delay in the supply of reliefmaterials to the victims.

Bihar is a leader in forging civilsociety partnership for disaster riskreduction in India. In these floodsthe state is making its reliefgovernance more responsive,decision making more decentralized,and civil society participation wider.Shri Surya Prakash, faculty atNational Institute of DisasterManagement (NIDM) and a floodand drought expert has argued forreaching out to local networks andprivate sector establishments forflood relief and recovery.

The following are possible key waysto address the challenges and lookingbeyond relief: building resilience.1. Disaster insurance, if suitably

designed, can be a valuable riskmanagement tool to supportadaptation. Bihar can show theway to other states of India bydesigning disaster insurancepilot in at least 7 to 10 districts.

2. Looking at high flood riskreducing the number of affectedpeople and direct disaster relatedeconomic loss is challenging.Bihar needs to build a betterunderstanding to deal with lossand damage due to extremeevents such as floods. Bihar maynot have effective DRR investmentwithout building understandingand database on loss and damageacross its governance system.

3. Bihar has shown a strongperformance of buildingawareness on school safety. Thisperformance needs to be continuedby capacity development actionsfor making key schools andhospitals safer in Bihar.

'Remember that relief is the enemyof recovery, so minimize relief tomaximize recovery' said by OttoKoenigsberger (1978).

– Vishal Pathak andVipul Nakum of AIDMI.

Between the night of 28th Augustand the sundown of 29th August

2017, Mumbai once again witnesseda deluge. The city receivedprecipitation amounting to 315 m.m.in 12 hours, the heaviest since thedownpour of 26th July 2005 (944m.m.). Normalcy was disrupted inthis "busier than the bee" metropolis.Suburban trains, supposed to be thelife-lines of Mumbai, came to astandstill in most sectors of thenetwork serviced by three differentlines. Water-logging resulted in tomost other public transport systemsalso coming to a grinding halt in themiddle of their journeys.

This resulted in to people gettingstranded in places they were visitingor working at. Most people were farfrom their homes. Family memberswere in different places in the city.There was chaos. Pedestrians wadedthrough waters with the fear ofgetting drowned or getting suckedin manholes. The official agencieswere alert and well spread out inthe city. However, what wasstriking this time was the selflesshelp offered by individuals,voluntary organisations and self-motivated groups (either residentialsocieties or religious groups).

What they offered was amazinglysimple and practical. They offeredfacilities to trapped commuters torelieve themselves from nature'scalls. They offered place to rest, evenlie down. Large community halls,auditoria were converted todormitories for tired people whohad no choice but to wade backhome through knee–deep waters.They also offered snacks, meals, tea,coffee and water. Mobile numbersof individuals or organisations werebroadcast by WhatsApp messages tobe called for emergencies andrescue. Most messages were warmand welcoming.


Mumbai Deluge and the CivilSociety

A sampler of one such message readlike this: "We stay at Matunga /Dadar (East) very close to both thestations. Anyone needing help inany manner whatsoever, includingstay, meals, need to use washroom,dry clothes, etc. for self, family orfriends, please feel free to connectto–(Two numbers were given)... Besafe and enjoy the rains. Regards,(two names of citizens)."

All the religious organisations alsoplayed their role by offering spaceto relax, relieve and refresh for peopleon seeking respite from the water–logged streets of the "over planned"city. In this case also, though theresources might be of the organisations,the initiative and efforts were ofvolunteers from the civil society.Among these religious groups wereJain groups, Christian churches, SikhGurudwaras and Hindu temples.

The municipal corporation hadpublished the contact numbers ofthe disaster management controlrooms of all the wards. And, duringand after the downpour, hundredsof citizens posted messagesreporting about trapped citizensrequiring help, learning from which,police and other rescue workersreached these sites.

In my opinion, this is what is knownas Community Based DisasterManagement (CBDM): owned,managed and controlled largely bythe civil society on its own initiative.It reflects love for fellow citizens,concern for the discomforted,sensitivity towards needs of others,warmth of fraternity and faith inhumanity. This takes us a stepforward in the process ofstrengthening the civil society vis-à-vis the State and the Market. Thisis surely a sign of progress.

– Rajesh Bhat, Managing Trustee,Swapath Trust, Ahmedabad


Floods are not new to Assam. Thepeople of the state are so used to

floods in the monsoons that it isalmost called the 'flood season' inAssam. What is new is the durationand severity of these floods in 2017.

As on August 19, 2017, in what seemsto be the state's worst deluge in threedecades, the death toll in the secondwave of floods rose to 15, with 10more deaths reported on lastSunday. With over 10 lakh peopleaffected, the total number of floodvictims shot up to 15 lakh across 21out of 27 districts in Assam. Over85% of the Kaziranga National Park(KNP) was inundated causing loss ofwild life.

Relief camps are not easy to set upin flood hit Assam as roads getsubmerged, delaying supplies andraising the number of affected people.

More than 1.83 lakh displacedpeople have taken shelter in 439relief camps. Rescue operations bythe Army, Indian Air Force,National Disaster Response Forceand the State Disaster ResponseForce personnel are underway, saidstate project co-coordinator of AssamState Disaster ManagementAuthority (ASDMA) Rajib PrakashBaruah. About 3,000 villagers wererescued and shifted to relief campson Sunday, said defence PRO Lt ColS Newton of Armed Forces.

ECHO has offered Euro 200,000 toIFRC to respond to the needs of themost vulnerable 25,000 individualsin Assam. Focus is on reducingsuffering of these individuals. Localcivil society has shown rapidresponse with Inter Agency Groupcalling coordination meetings forrelief distribution. Sphere India hastaken measures to coordinate reliefefforts in Assam.

UNICEF in Assam has focused onchildren and their role in floodresponse.

Besides Assam, incessant rain in thelast five days has wreaked havoc inMeghalaya and claimed three lives.Nearly 800 people were renderedhomeless in South and West GaroHills district in western Meghalaya,officials said. There were reports offlash floods and landslides in differentparts of Khasi Hills causing loss ofagriculture and local horticulture.

Dr. Muzaffar Ahmed, Ex-memberNDMA, has suggested relief as aninvestment into resilience to floods.This includes not only investmentsin recovery but also in risk transferand micro-insurance.

Dr. Santosh Kumar, policy andplanning faculty at National Instituteof Disaster Management (NIDM), hasoften called for an HRD plan for thestates to continuously improve thequality of humanitarian response.

Flood fury has claimed at least threelives and affected over five lakhpeople in West Bengal. Rail and roadcommunication has been severely hit.Cooch Behar district was virtually cutoff from the rest of India withvehicular and train movement comingto a stop. Around 2.87 lakh peoplewere displaced in Cooch Behar, andanother two lakh in Jalpaiguri andAlipurduar districts and over 50,000were hit in Malda, North Dinajpur,Darjeeling and South Dinajpurdistrict. World Bank has taken initialsteps to reach out to these victims withfood, water and other relief supplies.

The ASDMA is one of the few stateauthorities in India to have pickedup the integration of Disaster RiskReduction (DRR) and ClimateChange Adaptation (CCA) in all itswork.


Floods in Assam in 2017Overall, as many as 20 states in thecountry have been affected duringthe current southwest monsoonseason in the country. According tothe available information, 600people have lost their lives; 24,811cattle heads have perished; 63,215houses/huts damaged and about 2.8lakh hectare of crop reportedlyaffected due to heavy rains; floodsand landslides. Data is still beinggathered and compiled to get aclearer picture of the loss anddamage brought about by thesefloods.

Assam has plans, people, andresources to respond to thechallenge. What may be added isexpert third party monitoring andevaluation (M&E).

Assam has taken up severalinitiatives to improve its responseand preparedness capacities againstdisasters particularly – floods andearthquakes. These includes but isnot limited to a series of city-wideemergency management exercises;training, mock drills and plan ofdisaster management in schools inall the districts; community-basedearly warning; developing andreviewing the district disastermanagement plans; and a review offlood studies.

Possible key steps that can supportthe flood preparedness in the stateinclude higher investment on floodprotection; strong actions to protectwetlands; introducing water storageareas; closer and stronger linkedDRR and CCA actions; constructingbuildings above flood levels (it is inthe tradition of the Assam that needsto remind in current time); andstronger implementation of landusage (for construction) norms.

– Vandana Chauhan andVishal Pathak of AIDMI.


memories of the most devastatingurban flooding in India's recenthistory,2 the 'deluge' of Mumbai in2005, wherein record rainfall (944mm within 24 hours) precipitated adisaster that caused hundreds offatalities and massive economicdamages.

The complex picture of this disasteris bigger than climate changeClimate change, in both the citiescases, is held in parts responsible forprecipitating more intense andextreme weather events thatcontribute to disasters. On the otherhand, scientific uncertainties remainregarding how far climate changecan be held accountable for specificregional or local weather events.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND DRR

A Tale of Two Cities: Flooding in Houston andMumbai — Time to Learn?

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Dramatic images of the impactsfrom flooding from Houston in

the US and Mumbai, India havecalled to attention thevulnerabilities that an increasinglyurbanised world faces in the twentyfirst century.

As Houston was inundated by'biblical' rainfall and grapples withextreme flooding and its aftermath,another coastal megacity on the otherside of the globe also experienceddestructive flooding, albeit on a lesserscale. Within the span of a couple ofhours, rainfall to the tune of 298 mm,lashed Mumbai.1 Public life groundto a complete standstill, with anumber of deaths and casualtiesreported. It also conjured up people's

While it is tempting to lay the blamefor flooding squarely on 'unusual'precipitation, the picture thatemerges on the ground is often morecomplex and messy. This is thepicture in Mumbai as documentedby our project, the Climate Change,Uncertainty and Transformationproject based at the NorwegianUniversity of Life Sciences3 inpartnership with the Institute ofDevelopment Studies,4 the IndianInstitute of Technology-Bombay andothers.

Following the 2005 Mumbai floods,many promises were made, andinvestments undertaken bymunicipal authorities to ensure betterflood proofing of the city. However,

1 http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/mumbai-floods-why-india-s-cities-are-struggling-with-extreme-rainfall/story-wsWPNy2MXh4b9JYTqtA0QJ.html

2 http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/mumbai-floods-swamp-excessive-rains-drainage-system-july-2005-august-2017-4823348/

3 https://www.nmbu.no/en/faculty/landsam/department/noragric/research/clusters/ccad/projects/climate-change-uncertainty-and-transformation

4 http://www.ids.ac.uk/project/climate-change-uncertainty-and-tranformation


more than a decade later, thedominant approaches of urbangovernance and development havenot changed much at all and chronicwater logging and flooding remaina yearly occurrence.

The disappearance of flood plainsand patches, protective mangrovecover, coastal wetlands, and massiveinfrastructure expansion on thefragile coastline continue unabated.Major drainage channels remainobstructed and sky-high real estateprices drive contractors toappropriate and develop land inlow-lying and flood prone zones.All of these aggravate threats fromnatural disasters and reveal astructurally unequal city wherein thepoor, who constitute a largeproportion of the city's population,regularly face the brunt from thedouble impacts of developmentinterventions (e.g displacement, lossof livelihoods) and flooding.

Flood mitigation strategies inMumbai rely dominantly on built-up infrastructure (e.g pump stations,embankments, renovating stormwater drains) but, as evidenced yetagain, have had only very limitedsuccess. Often, these interventionsserve to shift points of inundationfrom one area to another, creatingnew vulnerable hotspots. Arguably,improvements in immediate disasterresponse have taken place but theytend to function inefficiently.

What lessons can be learnt from therecent Mumbai floods?Poor uptake of information fromearly warning systems contributedto ordinary people being caughttotally unaware this time around. Inthe face of such adversity,Mumbaikars and commentatorscomment with pride on the Mumbaispirit and resilience,5 which allowsthings to bounce back to normalquickly. While commendable, thiscan translate into a lack of protestand also serve as an excuse for stateauthorities to do nothing. Inaddition, the 'spirit of Mumbai'discourse hides larger inequalities indisaster impacts and outcomes. Whatlessons do these recent experienceshold then?

Coastal megacities such as Mumbaihave emerged as centres forpopulation growth, wealthaccumulation, and valuable materialassets. At the same time, they arebecoming increasingly vulnerable toextreme weather events, naturaldisasters and climatic changes.Investing in and modifying urbancityscapes appropriately is a long-term exercise with potential lock-ineffects, necessitating great diligence.

The recent events in Mumbaiillustrate that addressing floodthreats can't be separated fromwider urban development trends,strategies of environmentalmanagement and linked

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.e. uncertainties. The reliance on

techno-managerial means to'control flooding' is alluring, butultimately only constitutes atinkering of variables that preservesa status quo and detracts from thecomplex political, ecological andsocial landscape of the city. In thiscontext it is important to adopt amore expansive, cautionary andcommunicative approach to urbangovernance.

This requires a mobilisation of awide range of actors, from citizengroups, NGOs to experts as well asinstitutions and governancemechanisms across scales. Urbanplanning needs to be more attunedto local geography and ecology,with plans for spatial expansiontailored accordingly. There is also aneed to 'politicise' disasters so thatthe political class is forced to act andengage with their constituencies tomitigate risks and hazards.

All of these are challenging exercisesthat require radical rethinking andreorganisation.

In Houston's, as in Mumbai's case,experts point to deficiencies in landuse planning and governance asbeing partly responsible for theoutcome of the disaster. As India andother parts of the world rapidlyurbanise, these events signal theurgent need for a transformativeagenda in urban planning andgovernance. They also provide anopportunity to learn and incorporatelessons, so that growing cities canavoid costly mistakes. The extent ofrainfall cannot be controlled, butresponses and management of itcertainly can. – Hans Nicolai Adam, Lyla Mehta,

and D. Parthasarathy, Institute ofDevelopment Studies (IDS), UK.Piece was originally published as an

Institute of Development Studies (IDS) blog.

5 http://www.firstpost.com/living/in-a-crisis-it-isnt-resilience-but-the-helplessness-of-mumbaikars-that-helps-them-carry-on-2802054.html


DRR AND ECOLOGY

When Nature Rears its Head: Flash Flooding,and The Loss of Lakes in BengaluruIn the recent monsoon, residents of

Bengaluru have experiencedunprecedented rainfall that wreakedhavoc on the fragile infrastructureof the city, breaching 4 lakes, andwith 4 other lakes overflowing. Therising waters uprooted dozens oftrees, submerged many homes andvehicles, inundated the central busterminus and the sports stadium,and led to at least a dozen recordeddeaths. Blame games abound - withresidents, activists, and researchersblaming unplanned urban sprawland Government apathy. On theother hand, the city municipalityblames residents for encroachingupon channels, and for improperwaste management practices thatlead to clogged channelsexacerbating the floods.

Bengaluru is not a stranger to flashflooding. In the last year alone, theKarnataka State Natural DisasterMonitoring Center identified 174localities flood prone locations.Many of these areas are localitiesbuilt upon lake beds, floodplains, orstorm water channels. This patternof development is provingcatastrophic for a city that hasevolved around its networked watersystem for centuries. Building onwetlands and water channels hasdisrupted the natural flow of wateracross the topographical gradient.Water accumulates in naturaldepressions (often areas where a lakewas once located) and with a lack ofappropriate outlets for drainage,results in incidents of flash flooding.

Our research has shown that lakesbegan to be disregarded once pipeddrinking water began to be suppliedin the late 19th century. By themiddle of the 20th century, the

Sampangi lake was converted intothe Kanteerava sports stadium, andthe Dharmambudhi lake into thecity's central Majestic bus terminus.The loss of a single water body hadlarger ramifications — it disruptedthe connectivity of a networked sub-system of lakes, creating drainageproblems for the city. Theconversion of Dharmambudhi lake,for instance, was accompanied bythe destruction of channels thatconnected it to at least seven otherlakes. Unsurprisingly, only two ofthose lakes remain today.

Today's incidents of flash floodingare concentrated around former lakebeds: such as the Dharmambudhi,Sampangi, Koramangala, Ejipura,and Miller's lake series. What is thesolution? Given the scale ofurbanization in Bengaluru today, itseems impossible to reclaim the lostwaterscape. Efforts need to focusupon rejuvenating and sustaining the

A somewhat typical scene of a Bengaluru lake surrounded by high riseapartments. When the flow of water into the lake is obstructed by construction,flooding results.

existing traditional waterinfrastructure, much of which stillremains in the city's periphery, butis now under threat from privateconstruction. At the same time,storm water channels and wetlandsneed to be protected and rejuvenatedto facilitate the percolation and flowof water. In the interests of urbanwater security and sustainability,monsoon water needs to beharvested through open wells, androoftop rainwater harvesting. Thesestrategies will go a long way inensuring that city not only recoversfrom the trauma of recurring flashfloods, but also creates for itself asecondary supply of water withinthe city, promoting resilience in thelonger term.

– Dr. Hita Unnikrishnan, AssistantProfessor of Conservation Science,Trans-Disciplinary University and

Dr. Harini Nagendra, Professor ofSustainability, Azim Premji

University, Bengaluru


INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE

Resilient Water?

Can water be resilient? We knowthat water is essential for our

survival but it can be destructive inan equal measure too. One of thepossible ways of thinking aboutresilient water is to think of droughtin the times of floods. Imagine ahouse surrounded by a plenty offlood waters without clean water todrink inside. And for a while therehas not been a more floodedmonsoon in India, nay in South Asia,in fact in the world, than the pastthree months. But let us focus onIndia where over 35 million peoplehave been affected by floods in therecent months covering overestimated one-third of its land mass.

There is more rainfall. There aremore rainy days. The rivers havenarrowed and river beds areincreasingly full of landfill. The treesthat slow down and retain rain waterfrom running off into the rivers havedisappeared. And cities, small andlarge, come in the way of the rain

water to flow. All this leads us tobelieve that there will be morefloods and the flood water will notbe retained to reduce the chances ofpossible droughts.

It is the water in its source—dams,tanks, ponds, wells, lakes, and canalsin addition to rivers and streams anddeltas—that need to be viewed fromthe perspective of climatecompatible development in India.Both, surface water conditions aswell as the groundwater situation isdeteriorating fast. According to theWorld Bank1, more than 60% ofirrigated agriculture and 85% ofdrinking water supplies aredependent on groundwater now.

Based on its sub-national work indrafting District DisasterManagement Plans (DDMPs) in 9states of India, the All India DisasterMitigation Institute (AIDMI) hasfound that a national review of waterinsecurity and water infrastructure

is warranted. Such a review will helpin assessing how resilient is India'swater programme.

India has more people in rural areas–63.4 million–living without access toclean water than any other country,according to Wild Water, State of theWorld's Water 2017, new report byWaterAid2, a global advocacy groupon water and sanitation. The mosteffective and efficient approach ofconducting such a review will be onethat is bottom-up from block,district, state and up to the nationallevel. Such a review also necessitatesa participatory approach to be jointlyconducted by the State DisasterManagement Authority (SDMA)along with Water Resource andIrrigation Departments as well aswith civil society organizations.

Another important finding fromAIDMI's work with IDS in UK andUniversity of Norway in theSunderbans and the Kutch desert is

1 http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/03/06/india-groundwater-critical-diminishing2 http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/6-3-crore-indians-do-not-have-access-to-clean-drinking-water/story-

dWIEyP962FnM8Mturbc52N.html

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that there is no simple and effectivecommunication mechanism of top tobottom and bottom to top on climaterisks and uncertainty. Evolving amechanism that facilitates such acommunication will be the first stepin the right direction. Dr. ShibajiBose of Indian Institute of HealthManagement Research, Jaipur hasdeveloped a method, Photo Voices,which gives a voice to the bottomand the top to communicate witheach other. Such DDMPs in factrepresent an opportunity forconducting such a national reviewat local level.

Key systems such as water supply,health, power, communication,housing and agriculture need to betaken into account when reviewingwater insecurity and infrastructure.This can be done well if the hazardand risk mapping of potentialdisasters is scrupulously conducted.Since the DDMP drafting processdepends upon a detailed hazard, riskand vulnerability assessment(HVRA) of the above stated systems,it surely represents a formativebuilding block to conduct thenational review. National Instituteof Disaster Management (NIDM)under the leadership of Dr. SantoshKumar is best suited to initiate sucha review with a competent team ofinstitutions. This will be a one moreconcrete step towards

implementation of India's NationalDisaster Management Plan (NDMP)launched by the Prime Minister ofIndia in June 2016.

Another important step is findingand involving the right stakeholdersat all stages of such a process. Suchstakeholders may be the authoritiesor people's movements or unions orcooperatives or universities andbeyond. Recently Inter AgencyGroups (IAGs) have played a keyrole involving the right stakeholdersin each state affected by floods.AIDMI's work of risk reduction forthe poor and marginalizedcommunities of India and South Asiais based upon local systems of riskreduction that emerge fromtraditional knowledge ofcommunities that have been copingwith extreme events for too long.

There is a considerable body ofscientific evidence that suggests thatclimate change has been a majorcontributing factor for the increasingseverity and frequency of weatherextremes like floods and droughts.However, the line departments ofthe government possess only alimited understanding on this issue.Capacity building of these linedepartments on understanding theconcepts and impacts of climatechange can also improve theunderstanding of these 'decision-

implementers' to better coordinatebetween the varying climateextremes of floods and droughts atthe sub-national level in India.Odisha has already worked on thissensitive area through a TrainingNeeds Assessment (TNA) throughit’s the Odisha State DisasterManagement Authority (OSDMA).

The coastal state of Andhra Pradeshin India is often ravaged by floods,droughts and heatwaves. Theseclimate extremes affect differentregions of the state at differentseasons all around the year.Government of Andhra Pradesh incollaboration with UNDP Indiadrafted departmental disastermanagement plans for all the majordepartments of the stategovernment. Among thedepartments included were those ofagriculture, animal husbandry,cooperatives, fisheries, ruraldevelopment, urban development,panchayati raj and water resources.A common theme in all these planswas to plan for the efficient usage ofwater so that it benefits the state ina wide range of extreme weather.

Next step is for more nurturance ofthe points of entry to such a processof building resilience of waterinfrastructure.

The key gap is the institutionalcapacity for such ongoingassessments, for existing and newinfrastructure as well as limitedcapabilities for design and finance.Water security or the lack thereof,can push the column of vulnerabilityfor entire communities. The aboveorganisations, authorities andinstitutions have been consistentlyworking to transform thisvulnerability into resilience. Perhapsit is time that these measures arescaled up by many more relevantstakeholders.

– Vandana Chauhan withKshitij Gupta of AIDMI.Ph

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Dam on Kharun river, Munrethi, Raipur, Chhattisgarh.


DRR AND WASH

Floods, Sanitation and Access to CleanWaterSanitation is a chief determinant

of life expectancy, which in turnis a critical component of the HumanDevelopment Index (HDI). Thetheme of sanitation includespersonal hygiene, home sanitation,safe water, garbage disposal, excretadisposal and waste water disposal.Inadequate sanitation is thus the lackof improved facilities (toilets,conveyance, and treatment systems),and hygienic practices (handwashing, proper water handling,personal hygiene, etc.). While Indiais now in the front ranks of fast-growing emerging economies, it isstill lagged behind in health andsanitation practices compared toother countries. According to datafrom a World Health Organization(WHO) report, India continues to bea country with the highest numberof people that practice open defecation.

Globally, India is the second mostflood-affected country with one-eighth of its geographical areacategorized as flood-prone and theestimated total loss caused by floodannually is US $575 million (Dutta& Watts, 2010). Poor sanitation andlack of access to water compoundsthe negative impacts of flooding.Consumption of contaminateddrinking water, improper disposalof human excreta, improperenvironmental sanitation and lack ofpersonal and food hygiene are themajor causes of many water-bornediseases. It also gives rise toassociated losses in productivity dueto sickness and toilet access, andincreases healthcare costs. A detailedexplanation of the detrimentalimpact of flooding on sanitationfollows.

Firstly, floods impair clean watersources and food supply withpollutants such as debris and wasteproducts, carcasses of dead animals,animal and human waste. Direct and

indirect contact with thecontaminants – whether throughdirect food intakes, vector insectssuch as flies, unclean hands, or dirtyplates and utensils – result inwaterborne illnesses and life-threatening infectious diseases suchas diarrhoea, cholera, escherichiacoli, skin diseases and eye infections.Faecal contamination of livestockand crops can also lead to the spreadof infectious diseases (Casteel et al.,2006).

Secondly, the pollutants saturate intothe ground water and infiltrate intosanitary sewer lines through theground. In some areas of India, handpumps are the main source of waterfor drinking and domestic purposes.As the hand pumps are usuallyinstalled at ground level rather thanon raised platforms, they getsubmerged in floodwaters andbecome contaminated. Wastewatertreatment plants, if flooded andmalfunctioned, could result intobackflows of raw sewage to homesand low lying grounds.

Thirdly, due to unavailability ofhousehold toilet or dry land fordefecation, the flood affected

communities often defecate in thefloodwater, which increases furtherrisks for waterborne disease andrelated infections. Open defecationalso seriously affects the mentalhealth of women when they 'haveto fight with shame and shock torelieve themselves on the crowdedembankment or nearby' (The Hindu,2016).

Finally, during floods, patientsgenerally suffer from loss ofmedical services and find it moredifficult to access health care. Inflood and post-flood conditions, theburden on health facilities isexceptionally heavy due to the highnumber of patients affected bywater-borne and vector-bornediseases (Kumar, 2011). The poorhealth care service delivery andlimited health service access thenleads to delay in treatment, andincrease the severity of the disease,sometimes with fatal consequences.

Experiences from floods in othercountries also show the similarresults, unclean drinking andwashing water and sanitation,coupled with lack of adequatesewage treatment have lead to

Source: WHO, 2009.


disease outbreaks in Bangladesh andNew Orleans (Minamiguchi, 2010).In India, one in every ten deaths islinked to poor sanitation andhygiene; 37.7 million Indians areaffected by waterborne diseasesannually (WSP, 2010). India is hometo 48 million stunted children underage 5 – the highest rate the world.Over 140,000 children die every yearfrom diarrhea caused by unsafewater and poor sanitation (WSP,2010). Sanitation-linked diseases inearly years of children also hamperchildren's cognition, which have ina lifelong impact on their development.

Promoting safety and hygiene inflood-affected areas is one of keypillars in the intervention of AllIndia Disaster Mitigation Institute(AIDMI). Understanding the linkbetween sanitation-linked diseasesand children's development, AIDMIhas been supporting schools andrelated institutions to prepare SchoolDisaster Management Plan (SDMP).An SDMP includes three maincomponents: water safety, hygieneissues and food safety. AIDMI playsthe role as technical support andcommunity mobilization in SDMPpreparation, implementation, andmonitoring and evaluation. Thissupport resulted into 915 SDMPsprepared by schools from Gujarat,Assam, and Maharashtra during2016-2017.

Additionally, at community level,AIDMI provides training 'Safehygiene practices' in the training

session 'Community Based DisasterPreparedness' with communityleaders and CBOs with practicalexercise. So far, during the period2016-2017, 27 trainings have beenconducted with 1080 participantsfrom different fields includingcommunity leaders, NGOs,government officers, etc. Apromising result of all these effortsis the high participation and theleading roles of women in thecommunity. Such efforts have leadto positive behavioral changes in thecommunity, which are frequentlyled by women leaders at the locallevel.

Risk transfer and insurance is anotherkey tool that helps to promotesanitation at local level in disasterpreparedness. This includes tailormade insurance product/s,community water tanks, uplift ofwater pumps, promotion of savings,water and food safety and safehygiene practices. For example, inflood affected areas, AIDMI withlocal institutions and PRIs promotedand supported hand pumps withhigher level of platforms as microDRR/ mitigation measures.

All in all, intervention projects willnot result in sustained benefit unlessaccompanied by: effective communityinvolvement in determiningappropriate water and sanitationsystems that accommodate socialnorms; education about therelationship between illness,sanitation, and hygiene; and political

commitment to infrastructureimprovements (PAHO, 2006). Asenunciated by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, it should be 'Pehleshauchalaya, phir devalaya' (Toiletsfirst, temples later) (First Post, 2014).India needs to take considerablestrides to honour the commitmentof reducing open defecation andadvancing health and sanitation by2020.

– Do Ngoc Thao andVishal Pathak with AIDMI.

References:1. Casteel, M. J., Sobsey, M. D., &

Mueller, J. P. (2006). Fecalcontamination of agricultural soilsbefore and after hurricane-associatedflooding in north carolina. Journal ofEnvironmental Science and Health,Part A, 41(2), 173-184.

2. Curry, M. D., et al.(2001). Impactsof a flood disaster on an ambulatorypediatric clinic population. ClinicalPediatrics, 40(10), 571.

3. Dutta, R., & Watts, H. (2010).FACTBOX - annual loss from floodsin India. Reuters India.

4. Firstpost. (2014). India's missingtoilets: Poor sanitation leads tomalnutrition, stunted babies.Accessed at http://www.firstpost.com/india/awash-poopy-trash-india-must-take-loo-route-protect-babies-1619899.html

6. Freshwater Action Network SouthAsia (FANSA). (2011). Drinkingwater and sanitation security.

7. Kumar, V., Cheng, S., and Singh, A.(2010). Impact of floods on ruralpopulations and strategies formitigation: A case study on DarbhangaDistrict, Bihar State, India.

8. Minamiguchi, N. (2010). Healthrisks and hazards caused by floods.

10. Ministry of Rural Development.(2011). Enhanced Quality of Lifethrough Sustained Sanitation.India Country Paper.

11. Pan American HealthOrganization. (2006). The Challengein Disaster Reduction for the Waterand Sanitation Sector.

12. The Hindu. (2016). Women fightshame in flood hit Bihar. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/women-fight-shame-in-flood-hit-bihar/article6356043.ece

13. Water and Sanitation Program(WSP), ADB, & AusAID. (2010).The economic impacts of inadequatesanitation in India.

14. WHO. (2009). Water sanitationhygiene. Fast facts WHO/UNICEFjoint monitoring report 2012.

Figure 2: Transmission pathways of diseases carried by faces

Source: WSP, 2010.


Editorial Advisors:

ALL INDIA DISASTER MITIGATION INSTITUTE411 Sakar Five, Behind Old Natraj Cinema, Near Mithakhali Railway Crossing, Ashram Road,Ahmedabad–380 009 India. Tele/Fax: +91-79-2658 2962E-mail: [email protected], Website: http://www.aidmi.org, www.southasiadisasters.net

Denis NkalaRegional Coordinator, South-South Cooperationand Country Support (Asia-Pacific), UnitedNations Development Programme, New York

Ian DavisVisiting Professor in Disaster Risk Management inCopenhagen, Lund, Kyoto and Oxford BrookesUniversities

Dr. John TwiggSenior Research Associate, Department of Civil,Environmental and Geomatic Engineering,University College London, London

Madhavi Malalgoda AriyabanduSub-Regional Coordinator, Central Asia & SouthCaucasus, United Nations Office for Disaster RiskReduction (UNISDR), Kazakhstan

Mihir R. BhattAll India Disaster Mitigation Institute, India

Dr. Satchit Balsari, MD, MPHThe University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell,New York, USA

T. Nanda KumarChairman, Institute of Rural Management Anand(IRMA), Anand, Gujarat, India

In 2017 India has been ravaged byunprecedented flooding. The

floods have substantially affectedthousands of households across thestates of Assam, Bihar, Gujarat,Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

Many reports in the recent past havehighlighted India's vulnerability torecurrent flooding and effects ofclimate change are worsening thesituation. As per the recent UNreport, India's average annualeconomic loss due to disasters isestimated to be $9.8 billion; thisincludes more than $7 billion losson account of floods. The poor andvulnerable are finding it extremelydifficult to recover from suchrepeated financial losses every year.

In this regard, we wish to draw yourattention toward the potential offlood insurance for the poor andvulnerable.

Investment in micro-insurance canminimize financial impact ofrecurrent flooding on the poor and

vulnerable and decrease dependencyon external assistance for recovery,which is often delayed and remainsunpredictable. The insurance sectorin India is rapidly expanding andthis growth is effectively facilitatedby Insurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority (IRDA) andgovernment of India. However, asignificant proportion of populationin India remains uncovered and doesnot benefit from the boominggrowth in the insurance sector.

There is plenty of empirical evidencethat micro-insurance can help inbuilding resilience. Evidencesuggests that availability and accessto micro-insurance can facilitatemuch faster recovery of disasteraffected people as it puts cash intothe hands of recoveringcommunities. In the past ten yearsacross India, through its innovativemicro-insurance product called "AfatVimo" (Disaster Insurance) the AllIndia Disaster Mitigation Institute(AIDMI) has successfullydemonstrated that the convergence

of micro-insurance with riskreduction support can help victimsrecover faster and build resilience.

The role of micro-insurance has beenrecognized in India's NationalDisaster Management Plan (NDMP),several State Disaster ManagementPlans (SDMPs) as well as in theSendai Framework for Disaster RiskReduction (SFDRR).

Most importantly, the real potentialof micro-insurance for floods, tomake financial losses bearable to thevictims by can be assessed by:1. Setting up a working group to

measure demand and explorepotential of micro-insurance forflood mitigation;

2. Designing a suitable productwith national insuranceproviders; and

3. Launching such a product tosupport risk reduction efforts ofthe poor and vulnerablehouseholds.

– AIDMI Team

RISK REDUCTION

Micro Insurance for Floods

Documents

August 2017 southasiadisasters.net 1