Of late, floods have shown a pattern of regularity and increasing intensity. What complicates matters is the failure of State Governments to release funds, which adversely affects the flood management system. Corrective measures are needed urgently
The recurrent annual floods across India and the Asian region have been showing an unmistakable pattern of regularity and increasing intensity. According to latest report by the Asian Development Bank and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Asia has the highest number of people exposed to flooding from possible storm surge events, particularly in China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
The recent floods in Assam that led to 60 casualties and displaced around 60,000 people and the ongoing floods in Gujarat that have displaced 25,000 people so far are a testament to the fact that floods are now becoming a new normal for many geographical regions.
Studying the 136 largest coastal cities, the authors of the report estimate that the average global flood losses in 2005 were approximately six billion dollar per year and will increase to $52 billion by 2050.
The report predicts that nearly 130 million people in low-elevation coastal zones in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan are at risk of being displaced due to constant exposure to floods.
Growing populations, assets and subsidence is expected to exacerbate this situation. India especially stands to face the worst possible impact of this condition as the floods are expected to affect food security in the coming years by triggering a decline in rice yields by five per cent by 2030 in the southern States. These conditions would also lead to a considerable spike in global warming with notable temperature increase in Southeast Asia and India.
Unpreparedness, both at the rural and urban levels, has been instrumental in giving impetus to the problem of floods every year which could otherwise have been avoided. According to a recent Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) report, there has been a 60 per cent shortfall in release of central funds to Assam for implementing flood management programme.
In addition to this, the CAG report also stated that the State Government did not release 84 per cent of the allocated budget provision. This lack of crucial support in the face of worsening climate change exposed Assam to the vagaries of nature that could well have been avoided.
The Government needs to tackle the issue of funds insufficiency as it adversely affects the implementation of flood management schemes. The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation must make all possible efforts to release adequate funds in a timely manner as per the flood management programme guidelines and impress upon the State Governments to release funds to executing agencies in a time-bound manner. In order to ensure compliance in this regard, the Ministry can also maintain a strict vigilance on utilisation of funds by the State Government and executing agencies so as to avoid parking and diversion of funds.
Furthermore, the Ministry must reimburse the funds to the State Governments only after ensuring receipt of statements of expenditure, utilisation certificates and other requisite documents.
Due to high concentration of human population and property per square kilometer, urban areas tend to suffer the maximum brunt of the floods in the form of lives lost and property damaged. This is proven time and again as cities that are not climate-proof pay a heavy price in the face of natural disasters such as floods. This situation needs to be addressed immediately and cities must be made climate resilient and especially flood-proof.
The foremost step to be taken is to ensure proper planning of the cities and their sewage network. This should be integrated with rain harvesting system and floodwater management system.
The civic bodies happen to be the first robust barriers for managing floods and have a major role to play when it comes to minimising the effect of floods, especially in areas that are known to be vulnerable to flooding.
The Government must commission adequate research projects that are able to scientifically identify how often floods will take place in a specific area. Proper assessment needs to be done while giving town planning permits, so that limits can be placed for making the area less vulnerable to flooding. This is especially applicable when land is being developed or redeveloped in areas that are prone to floods.
The State Government in association with non-governmental organisations and resident-welfare organisations must set up infrastructure such as retarding basins and stormwater drains and update them on a consistent basis in order to deal with the after effects of floods in a better way.
There should also be proper models for assessing possibilities of rise in water level and good coastal development programmes. These need to be assessed on a regular basis as well. Additionally, river level and rainfall gauges that can help in predicting major floods must be set up and monitored on a regular basis.
The authorities also need to carry out awareness and education programmes so that people in flood-prone areas can be in a better situation if and when a flood happens in a particular area.
Floods are representatives of changing climate and unless urgent measures are taken to tackle these natural disasters they might just become a new normal for us to live with, causing humongous damage.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)