Kerala’s response to floods

Nature’s fury or man-made disaster? It does not matter. Our present disaster response system needs to be strengthened.

Mourya Krishna ©
Sep 8, 2018 · 5 min read

In late July and early August 2018, Kerala faced unprecedented rainfall. According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), between June-August 2018, Kerala experienced an excess of 41% rainfall (Actual rainfall — 2394.1 mm; Normal rainfall — 1701.4 mm). This led to floods on a large-scale. The term flood is generally used when the water-flows in rivers, streams and other water bodies cannot be contained within natural or artificial banks.

The district-wise rainfall distribution is shown below.

Image Source: IMD

This deluge resulted in unforeseen losses to life and property in the densely populated coastal state straddled by the Western Ghats. Excess water from all its 37 reservoirs including Idukki Dam, Cheruthoni Dam, Sholayar Dam, etc. had to be released, which caused widespread inundation of low-lying areas. Landslides and flash floods were aggravated by Kerala’s undulating terrain.

In this background, it becomes pertinent to examine India’s flood preparedness. What is the present framework? How did it function during Kerala floods? What is the way ahead? Let us see them one by one.

  • Institutional Framework: In India, we have an institutional framework for disaster response under the National Disaster Management Act, 2005 which was enacted following the devastative tsunami of 2004. Under the Act, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is designated as the apex authority. Recognising the gravity and risk of vulnerability of India to floods, the NDMA has laid down Guidelines for Flood Management. Based on these guidelines, all key agencies such as State governments, Panchayat Raj Institutions, Urban Local Bodies etc. develop their own guidelines. The State Disaster Management Authority reviews and monitors implementation of guidelines at the state level. At the district level, there is the District Development Management Authority.

Unfortunately, the magnitude of the floods was unforeseen and rendered the state’s response largely ineffective.

  • Flood forecasting: The IMD is entrusted with giving timely weather forecasts and flood warnings. Unfortunately, the IMD’s prediction was way short of the actual rainfall received by Kerala. The fact that Kerala doesn’t have a flood warning centre didn’t make matters any better.
  • Flood Response: As per provisions of National Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Government of India (GOI) has constituted National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for the purpose of specialised response to disasters. Besides the military and NDRF, civil society also plays a major role.

During the Kerala floods, a total of 58 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed. This was the highest ever deployment of NDRF in a single state since its raising (in 2006) and consequently, this became the biggest-ever disaster response operation till date. The Army, Air Force and Navy too played a pivotal role in rescue and relief operations. The heroic acts by Commander Vijay Sharma, of the Indian Navy, who skilfully airlifted a pregnant women to a hospital and Captain Rajkumar who rescued 26 lives had won admiration of the entire nation.

The civil society including NGOs, fisherfolk, corporates, so on complimented the state in disaster response. For example, Anbodu Kochi, a social media and volunteer platform, played a significant role in distributing relief material such as blankets, food packets, medicines, among others. The fishermen adroitly deployed their boats to carry out rescue operations. Corporates like Amazon used their on-ground services for delivery of aid. The media relied less on sensationalism and reported the events with honesty and integrity. In fact, AsiaNet News stopped showing advertisements and covered the floods 24/7.

  • Dams, Reservoirs and Other forms of Water Storage: Dams and reservoirs play a crucial role in flood control as they store water and help us utilise them effectively for agriculture, irrigation and industrial needs. At the same time, they can be a source of floods as well. In Kerala, there was dilemma between flood control and reservoir regulation, and this had adverse consequences. For instance, the mismanagement of Idukki reservoir resulted in inundation of low-lying areas such as Ernakulam.
  • Regulation and Enforcement: The Gadgil Committee in 2011 had advocated sensitivity to ecology in our development approach. It called for limiting quarrying, sand-mining and dam construction in the Western Ghats region which also encompasses Kerala. However, unplanned and unregulated activity across several districts of Kerala had aggravated losses as well as risk during the recent floods.
  • Capacity Development: The National Disaster Management Plan, inter alia, has provisions for capacity development among local communities. However, this provisions seem to be more on paper rather than being implemented in spirit.

Way forward

In this background, more needs to be done for flood preparedness. There is need for a holistic approach to tackle floods.

  • Need for comprehensive Plan: There should be a master plan for flood control and management for each water basin
  • Flood control vs Water storage: Flood-cushion should be provided in water storage projects, wherever feasible, to facilitate better flood management. In highly flood prone areas, flood control should be given overriding consideration in reservoir regulation policy even at the cost of sacrificing some irrigation or power benefits
  • Protection and Preventive works: While physical flood protection works like embankments and dykes will continue to be necessary, increased emphasis should be laid on non-structural measures such as flood forecasting and warning, flood plain zoning and flood proofing for the minimisation of losses and to reduce the recurring expenditure on flood relief
  • Regulation of economic activity: There should be strict regulation of settlements and economic activity in the flood plain zones along with flood proofing, to minimise the loss of life and property on account of floods
  • Modernisation of flood forecasting: The flood forecasting activities should be modernised, value added and extended to other uncovered areas. Inflow forecasting to reservoirs should be instituted for their effective regulation

To prepare better for the future, our country has to shift towards efficient management of flood plains, disaster preparedness, response planning, flood forecasting and warning. Kerala should be seen as a lesson for our country to tackle floods more effectively in the future.

Originally published in Foundation for Democratic Reforms (FDR)’s September 2018 Newsletter.

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