Recently the state of Kerala has experienced one of the worst ever floods in India. Hundreds of people in Kerala lost their lives; thousands of acres cultivable land damaged and lakhs and lakhs of people have been displaced due to this tragedy. As the water levels have now been receded and the rehabilitation efforts in flood-hit areas have now been started, there is a need to introspect and rectify oneself for avoiding similar tragedies in future. It is not only the heavy rains which are responsible for this disaster but the faulty management of dam water management has also aggravated the situation. Today, it is Kerala tomorrow- it might be Goa or Arunachal Pradesh or Mumbai and so on, if we don’t learn from this tragedy and rectify our approach to water management. There is a need to introduce ‘Build Back Better’ policy in rehabilitation to ensure disaster resilience infrastructure build up for future. This article tries to throw light upon disasters, its management with specific emphasis on urban flood management in Mumbai .

India’s proneness for Disasters-

India is prone for various types of disasters due to its inherent geological, geographical and demographical aspects. About 60 percent of the Indian landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities, over 40 million hectares is prone to floods and 68 percent of the cultivable area is susceptible to drought. Approximately 85% of Indian population is prone for one or another type of disasters in India. These natural disasters are further aggravated by man-made activities. Whether it is the city of Mumbai or Chennai or Gauhatti, the faulty management of urban floods has led to severe damage from time to time. The metropolitan city of Mumbai is in limelight every year for its capability to handle the disasters, especially the frequent urban floods.

Case Study of Mumbai for Urban Floods Disaster-

The metropolitan Mumbai has earned the distinction of being the ‘economic powerhouse of India’ among the top 50 cities in the world and has also been infamously recognised as the second most vulnerable city among the top 50 cities to face coastal flooding. The unplanned growth of the city along with its poor drainage system has led to floods in Mumbai on various occasions including years 1974, 2006 and in year 2017. An expert report published in ‘The Journal of Climate Change (2011)’ mentioned that losses due to urban floods could be reduced by as much as 70 percent by mere upgrading of the drainage system in Mumbai. The most important aspect of disaster management is the preparedness level of the city to tackle a disaster by upgrading its coping capabilities. Various reports on urban flooding in Mumbai including Natu committee (1975), Chitale committee (2006) , etc.  recommended the augmentation of Mumbai’s hierarchical network of – roadside surface drains(2000 km); underground drains and laterals (440 km); 287 km of major and minor channels and 186 outfalls- all discharging into rivers and Arabian sea. Though the administrative authorities has started the action on urban flood management activities in Mumbai, the efforts seem to be too little too late! Under BRIMSTOWAD (Brihanmumbai Stormwater Disposal System) project, six pumping stations for pumping out the choked drainage lines have been built, but many of them are yet to be fully functional. Secondly, there is only one Doppler Radar to give detailed predictions hours before a heavy downpour. IMD is yet to implement effective system for early prediction of weather. Timely forewarning and weather forecasting could save number of lives and economic losses. Thirdly, the unplanned, unregulated and unsustainable growth of the city has resulted into the situation of unavailability of open spaces in the city alongwith the increasing concretisation of available land, encroaching into the ecologically sensitive zones. The crux of the matter is the main tussle between the engineering solutions and the ecological solutions. The greedy human being seems to be fully relying on engineering solutions to the challenges thrown by the nature. There is no effort synergising engineering with ecology. Instead of focussing on building a heavy wall to protect from a tidal wave, the preservation of natural mangroves can act as an effective natural barrier against coastal flooding. It’s a high time that the administrative authorities focus on the sustainable development measures and streamline the design flaws in urban floods management.

The case study of Mumbai for studying the loopholes in the management of urban floods is just the ‘tip of iceberg’ of the phenomenon of urban flooding across India. The floods in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Gauhatti and so on are the manifestations of the same illness of incoherence between nature and the phenomenon of urbanisation. India has moved on in its disaster management approach, especially after passage of Disaster Management Authority Act, 2005 with a paradigm shift in its approach from ‘reactive to responsive’ and from ‘relief-centric to comprehensive and integrated’ approach of disaster management. The focus on ‘3-C’s (Capacity, Coordination & Community participation) of disaster management would ensure the improvement in coping capabilities of the human beings to tackle various types of disasters. India is marching towards becoming a global power and this journey can’t be completed unless we focus systematically on synergising man-made Engineering efforts with the ecological solutions. Mahatma Gandhi is still relevant today in terms of his ideology of ‘sustainable development’ i.e. development of today without compromising the development capabilities of future generations, by ensuring the environment friendly measures of development.

(The author of this article ,Lt Col (Dr) Satish Dhage, is an ex Army officer and has been qualified for IPS (Indian Police Services) through IPS LCE 2012. Presently, he is Director, MGM Institute of Competitive Exams Aurangabad. For any queries or feedback, he can be contacted on email id : drsatishdhage@gmail.com)