India Programme - Technical assistance for Greater Chennai Corporation regarding early flood detection and resilience

Descriptions

The geographical setting of Tamil Nadu makes the state vulnerable to natural disasters such as cyclones floods and earthquake-induced tsunami. Tamil Nadu covers an area of 1,300,582 km and has a coastline of about 1,076 kms which is about 15% of the coastline of India. More than 40% of fishermen live within 1km of the coast and 50% of them live within 2 km. The seasonal cyclonic depressions arising in the Bay of Bengal create havoc in the state which often results in flash floods. In the recent past, Tamil Nadu was hit by tropical cyclones Vardha, Okhi and Gaja which all inflicted massive damage across the state. Flooding in Chennai caused estimated economic losses of $2.2 billion with the worst damage wrought in 2015. Residential areas alongside bodies of water were marooned for more than 10 days. The mobile communication network was down in various parts of the city. Major intercity and interstate roads were cut off during the flood and public movement was severely affected. The city was totally cut off from other cities due to severed transport links and the supply of basic commodities like vegetables, milk and bread etc. were limited. Train services were stopped and the airport was closed for more than a week. A continuous failure of power supply was also experienced in the city. It was estimated that approx. 347 lives were lost in the period. Tamil Nadu tops the list of urbanized states with 48.45% of its population living in urban areas, followed by Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The burgeoning urban population causes a choking of living space in the city and results in flash floods due to choking of drainage systems. Against this backdrop it is pertinent to have a robust early flood detection system of International Standards for the city of Chennai. Additionally there has been a paradigm shift in the focus of flood monitoring/detection management plan from response-centric covering rescue, relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction to laying greater emphasis on the other elements of disaster management cycle-prevention, mitigation, and preparedness-as a means to avert or soften the impact of future emergencies. There remains a necessity to undertake measures to build capacity among all the disaster management stakeholders and to create awareness among the community members.