{"id":252268,"date":"2023-07-15T20:43:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T15:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=252268"},"modified":"2023-08-31T12:41:35","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T07:11:35","slug":"how-to-prevent-disruptions-by-flood-and-extreme-weather-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/how-to-prevent-disruptions-by-flood-and-extreme-weather-events\/","title":{"rendered":"How to prevent disruptions by flood and extreme weather events"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cHow to prevent disruptions by flood and extreme weather events\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d <\/strong>on 15th July 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS 3 – Disaster management<\/p>\n

News-<\/strong>. North-western India and Delhi are facing floods.<\/p>\n

Why is there a need for focussed attention on extreme weather events? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Global warming <\/strong>is increasing. If cities are warmed beyond 2 degrees, climatic-impact drivers <\/strong>like extreme rain and heat will increase in intensity. Frequency and intensity of extreme weather <\/strong>will also increase.<\/p>\n

The IPCC has shown that this could grow exponentially<\/strong>. It can be much faster than the capacity of our current governance, planning and infrastructure systems. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Massive future disruptions<\/strong> across urban India like flooding, water scarcity and heat waves<\/strong> will increase.<\/p>\n

Why are climate impacts and risks like flooding felt intensely in our cities?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One-third of our people and two-third of our economic output<\/strong> is concentrated in densely built-up areas. There is poor water, sanitation, drainage and wastewater infrastructure. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Irrational land use and planning systems<\/strong> exacerbate these challenges and amplify the vulnerability of people<\/strong> who are forced to live in informal settlements and slums.<\/p>\n

Cities in sensitive regions<\/strong> along the coast, rivers and hills face even worse impacts, due to higher exposure and locational vulnerability.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the way forward for flood management in cities?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ensuring drainage exists and works<\/strong>: A monsoon audit<\/strong> is done by civic bodies ahead of the season. It ensures that storm water drains, tanks and lakes exist and work properly, and are not choked by construction debris, silt, garbage<\/strong> or blocked by encroachments. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Planning<\/strong> throughout the year and adequate financial and human resources<\/strong> is needed for it, which is not prioritised by civic bodies.<\/p>\n

The medium-term solution is the integration of drainage, water supply and wastewater syste<\/strong>ms to store the intense rain that may come over a short period.<\/p>\n

Drainage systems<\/strong> should have enough capacity to deal with the greater intensity of rain caused by changing climate.<\/p>\n

Improving roads:<\/strong> The rapid expansion of urban areas<\/strong> has outpaced the development of drainage system<\/strong>s. It has led to many roads functioning as stormwater drains<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It is necessary to enhance the construction and repair practices<\/strong> of city roads to mitigate local flooding.<\/p>\n

Currently, when a tar road is repaired, new layers of tar are added. Over time, this leads to an elevated road level <\/strong>compared to the surrounding areas, buildings, and drains. Consequently, these areas and drainage systems become overwhelmed <\/strong>during heavy rainfall.<\/p>\n

The situation worsens due to construction of flyovers, underpasses, and sometimes metro lines<\/strong>. It disrupts the existing drainage infrastructure<\/strong>, resulting in significant traffic congestion following floods. <\/strong><\/p>\n

This issue requires effective coordination and infrastructure planning <\/strong>among all relevant agencies.<\/p>\n

Greening cities and using blue-green-grey infrastructure: <\/strong>As urban areas expand into concrete landscapes<\/strong>, the capacity for water percolation and flow<\/strong> decreases.<\/p>\n

Preserving and safeguarding urban forests, wetlands, rivers, and lakes <\/strong>are crucial in addressing climate change-induced flooding, water scarcity. <\/strong><\/p>\n

China, aims to transform 30 of its megacities into “sponge cities\u201d<\/strong>. It is focussing on green roofs <\/strong>to slow down runoff, urban forests to facilitate percolation and groundwater recharge<\/strong>, and wetlands to absorb and reuse <\/strong>a significant portion of their water resources.<\/p>\n

The East Kolkata wetlands<\/strong> have served as an effective flood defence mechanism <\/strong>for over a century. It treats a substantial portion of the city’s sewage<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Practical nature-based blue-green-grey infrastructure initiatives<\/strong> like thai are important for climate adaptation for many cities in India.<\/p>\n

Reducing flood vulnerability:<\/strong> India possesses the technological capabilities<\/strong> to conduct comprehensive mapping<\/strong> of all its cities and towns, utilising high-resolution satellite imagery and local topographical data<\/strong> to identify areas most susceptible to flooding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the challenge lies in addressing the vulnerability<\/strong> of people residing along river banks, low-lying areas, and unstable slopes.<\/p>\n

Significant progress has been made in terms of evacuation and protecting lives<\/strong>. But, a lot needs to be done for establishing genuine community-based resilience<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One area where notable improvements have been observed is in enhancing forecasting, early warning systems, and evacuation protocols <\/strong>in major cities.<\/p>\n

The next step is to extend these measures to all at-risk locations<\/strong>. There is a need for strengthening critical services<\/strong> such as cell phones, power supply, and water infrastructure to ensure their resilience from extreme events.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is essential to provide all urban residents with access to basic environmental services<\/strong> for safeguarding cities from floods. This includes ensuring reliable water supply, sanitation facilities, effective drainage systems, and proper management of solid waste. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cHow to prevent disruptions by flood and extreme weather events\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 15th July 2023. Syllabus: GS 3 – Disaster management News-. North-western India and Delhi are facing floods. Why is there a need for focussed attention on extreme weather events? Global warming… Continue reading How to prevent disruptions by flood and extreme weather events<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[411,216,10500],"class_list":["post-252268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-disaster-management","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}