Guest column: Prioritise risk reduction over response in tackling floods

Hindustan Times

3 days ago

There has been death and destruction again this monsoon, caused by hydro-meteorological disasters of cloud bursts and flash floods, first in the north-east and now in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Innocent people, their livestock and houses, along with roads, bridges and other infrastructure were washed away. This was followed with blocked roads, power shutdowns and water supply disruption, causing further misery and hindrance to the ongoing response. The monetary losses have run into multiple crores. The main cause of this catastrophe is that stability of land has been allowed to be disturbed, and its strength to face nature's onslaught weakened. (PTI file photo)
The main cause of this catastrophe is that stability of land has been allowed to be disturbed, and its strength to face nature's onslaught weakened. This becomes complicated when coupled with haphazard and unscientific development. The damage to and degradation of forests has reduced their land and water conservation power that ensures smooth and regulated natural water flow.
Habitations, shops and commercial establishments have come up on the natural path of water flow and on the banks of rivulets and rivers, that too below flood plain level. Irresponsible and unscientific mining has disturbed environmental stability. Domestic solid waste and muck generated due to development, instead of being disposed of at places meant, are littered to be washed away, adding fury to moving flood waters.
Floodgates of storage and run-of-the-river hydel projects are managed irresponsibly, allowing fast gushing of water to cause more damage and destruction downstream. Climate change has not been tackled nor mitigated and required adaptations are yet to be accomplished.
Prioritise early warning
The strategic, scientific and practical National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009, stipulates following the step-wise pre-disaster phase of prevention, preparation, early warning, mitigation and risk reduction and then if required the post-disaster phase of response, rescue, evacuation, relief and rehabilitation. A fully prepared governance system, having prioritised pre-disaster steps of adequate preparation, would drastically reduce human and property losses. Early warning dissemination of these disasters, combined with mitigation and risk reduction measures, can assist in moving towards disaster resilience. But such a system up to the last mile has not been developed except for cyclones. People consequently were taken by surprise to see deaths and destruction.
The requirement is to have well-managed forests, stable catchments, arrived through effective watershed management, that makes the area stable, regulated and smooth drainage of water, assisting in preventing or minimising floods, flash floods, reducing damage from cloudbursts, and in preventing landslides. These mitigating and risk-reduction steps, along with preparatory steps of clearing drains, nullahs and rivulets of waste, would allow and regulate natural water flow. In addition, construction of houses and other infrastructure away from the highest flood level of rivers and rivulets, and where these exist below, shifting above, will mitigate unnecessary losses.
Satellite-based early warning systems, with dissemination up to the last mile, on mobiles must be developed and operationalised. Till the Central Water Commission and Indian Meteorological Department develop an integrated system based on data of rainfall and flood water flow, that forewarns at least six to 12 hours in advance, we will continue to see and face such deaths and destruction.
Mitigation measures
Flood gates management of hydro-electric projects after heavy rains require further fine tuning. In spite of pre-disaster preparation, sometimes the situation goes out of control. In such times, an effective post-disaster response of evacuating the affected, housing them at safe places and distributing immediate relief has to be in place. National and state disaster response forces are trained to manage the situation but positioning them at vulnerable areas beforehand will give better results.
Funds in crores are being doled out by state governments and assistance from the Government of India is being sought. Inferences from past post-disaster needs assessment studies, including for hydro-meteorological disasters, indicate that cost and efforts of undertaking pre-disaster actions are much less than that of cumbersome post-disaster responses.
But this has not been taken seriously and followed, so also suggestions and remedies from such studies. The requirement is to henceforth be serious in accomplishing actions of the pre-disaster phase to achieve near disaster resilience, so as to prevent or at least minimise death and destruction.
Sustainable development and climate-resilient models, nature-based development and solutions and tourism based on carrying capacity of nature, would further reduce and mitigate hydro-meteorological disaster risks and destruction. Such actions, along with integration and mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction and mitigation measures, as discussed into developmental planning, would for sure give better results.
The earliest these guidelines and operations are adopted and implemented, the better it would be in managing such disasters in future.
SP Vasudeva
(The writer, an Indian Forest Service officer, served as principal chief conservator of forests, Himachal Pradesh, and project director at National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), New Delhi. Views expressed are personal.)