{"id":267103,"date":"2023-10-31T19:53:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T14:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=267103"},"modified":"2023-11-03T22:08:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T16:38:51","slug":"on-the-rising-risks-of-urban-flooding-the-expansion-of-settlements-into-flood-prone-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/on-the-rising-risks-of-urban-flooding-the-expansion-of-settlements-into-flood-prone-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"On the rising risks of urban flooding \u2013 The expansion of settlements into flood-prone areas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source: <\/strong>This post on the rising risks of urban flooding has been created based on the article \u201cThe expansion of settlements into flood-prone areas\u201d<\/strong> published in The Hindu<\/strong> on 31st<\/sup> October 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 3 \u2013 Disaster and disaster management.<\/strong><\/p>\n

News<\/strong>:\u00a0This article discusses the recent findings of a World Bank Report highlighting the rising flooding risks due to expansion of settlements in flood-prone areas. It highlights the associated challenges and suggests steps to tackle them.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s urban areas have been flooding more and more often, destroying lives and livelihoods.<\/p>\n

What is the current situation of floods in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India is highly vulnerable to floods. Out of the total geographical area of 329 million hectares (mha), more than 40 mha (~12%<\/strong>) is flood prone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Flood-prone areas in India. <\/strong>Source: NDMA<\/p>\n

What does a recent study by the World Bank say about flood risks?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to the study, flood risk in many cities is rising<\/strong> because they are expanding into flood-prone areas<\/strong>. Since 1985, human settlements in flood-prone areas have more than doubled.<\/p>\n

The study also found that middle-income countries like India have more urban settlements in flood-prone zones<\/strong> than low- and high-income countries.<\/p>\n

This highlights the risk of unsustainable urbanization<\/strong> in India.<\/p>\n

What is the situation of urban flood risk in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) India is the 3rd<\/sup><\/strong> highest contributor to global settlements exposed to flood hazards<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2) India is also 3rd<\/sup> in countries with<\/strong> new settlements expanding<\/strong> into flood-prone areas.<\/p>\n

This means India is at significant risk of flood-related problems.<\/p>\n

Who is the most vulnerable to this risk?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The risks are disproportionately higher for those living in informal structures.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Informal housing in cities is on land that is vacant and less desirable, so that they are not immediately driven off. So, they often lie in \u201clow-lying, flood-prone areas\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are the reasons for the growth in human settlements in flood-prone areas?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Lack of environmental regulations:<\/strong> Environmental regulations are often applied only to big infrastructure projects and not to medium- and small-scale localities.<\/p>\n

2) Violation of regulations: <\/strong>People violate existing government regulations. For instance, a rise in eco-tourism resorts on forest land and the construction of large structures on rivers\u2019 floodplains.<\/p>\n

3) Market forces: <\/strong>Market forces, such as cost of land, tend to increase expansion into flood-prone areas.<\/p>\n

What should be done?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Recognition of the problem: <\/strong>Recognising that we are actually expanding into flood-prone areas is the first step towards sustainable urban planning.<\/p>\n

2) Preventing disproportionate harm to the poor: <\/strong>There is a need to differentiate between low-income residents and unauthorised structures erected for the elite.<\/p>\n

3) Scientific mapping: <\/strong>Every city needs to do a proper scientific mapping of the flood prone areas.<\/p>\n

4) Resilient infrastructure: <\/strong>Urban governments need to make housing in such areas more flood-resilient and protect low-income housing.
\nFor example, riverside settlements that use stilt houses used by the Mishing and the Miyah communities along the Brahmaputra.<\/p>\n

Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018India\u2019s rapid pace of urbanization is not without its challenges\u2019. Discuss in light of the rising phenomenon of urban flooding in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: This post on the rising risks of urban flooding has been created based on the article \u201cThe expansion of settlements into flood-prone areas\u201d published in The Hindu on 31st October 2023. UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 3 \u2013 Disaster and disaster management. News:\u00a0This article discusses the recent findings of a World Bank Report highlighting… Continue reading On the rising risks of urban flooding \u2013 The expansion of settlements into flood-prone areas<\/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":[411,216,10498],"class_list":["post-267103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-disaster-management","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":14,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698796143},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267103","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=267103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}