Kerala Flood
Why in news?
Recently, Kerala witnessed their worst flood since 1924, killing at least 480 people, displacing 780,000 and causing
₹ 50,000 crore worth of damage in State.
Background
• India’s Vulnerability to Floods: 40 million hectares out of a geographical area of 3290 lakh hectares is prone to floods in country.
• Impact of Climate Change: Intensity of extremely wet spells and extremely dry spells during the South Asian monsoon season have been increasing since 1980.
• Financial Drain: Floods costs the country Rs. 8,12,500 crore between 1953 and 2011 and according to World Resources Institutes (WRI), by 2030, up to $154 billion of the country’s gross domestic product could be exposed to flood risks each year, as climate change fosters more extreme weather events.
• Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in June 2017 says the States have failed to conduct a scientific assessment of flood- prone areas and of the 349 dams surveyed, only 40 prepared detailed disaster management plans.
o It also pointed out that poor dam management was responsible for India’s floods, such as Bihar in 2016 and Surat in 2006. In the 2015 Chennai floods, which claimed
295 lives, violation of dam safety norms was a critical factor.
Flood vulnerability in Kerala
• Rashtriya Barh Aayog (RBA) had estimated 8.70 lakh hectares area as flood prone out of 38.90 lakh hectares of geographical area in Kerala.
• Kerala State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) in 2014
assessed that state is severely threatened by climate change (see infographic).
• Central Water Commission (CWC), India’s only flood forecasting agency, does not have any flood forecasting
system in Kerala.
• Gadgil report on fragile ecosystem of Western Ghats (2011), had warned that illegal mining and deforestation had led to massive encroachment of river fronts in the state, and there was an urgent need for corrective action.
o It also said that, unchecked quarrying and construction in ecologically sensitive areas, can cause disastrous floods due to premature siltation in many reservoirs in the Western Ghats.
Reasons
• Incessant rainfall: Kerala received 2,346.6 mm of rainfall against a normal of 1,649.5 mm since the beginning of June. The “active” phase of the monsoon is when the monsoon trough moves south of its normal position causing heavy and intense showers in the southern peninsula
• Dam Mismanagement: There was an instant release of water from dam due to heavy rain, as dam reservoirs were not emptied before the onset of rain, flooding the nearby regions at a much faster rate than expected.
o Kerala government claimed that sudden releases of water from the Mullaperiyar dam (located in Kerala, but operated by Tamil Nadu) was a cause for the floods in the State.
37 ©Vision IAS
• Stone quarrying: A recent study by the Kerala Forest Research Institute pointed out that there were 5,924 big, medium and small quarries in the state. Mudslides and landslides were reported in 211 different places across the state which is attributed to increasing stone quarrying activity and large-scale deforestation.
• Other factor which aided in flood are deforestation drive for development purpose, Uncontrolled sand mining has constrained river flows, while the rapid spread of high-rise buildings on unstable hill slopes has weakened the soil. This unplanned development has left the area susceptible to flash floods and landslides.
• Large expanse of low lying areas: About 10 per cent of its geographical area is below the sea level.
Impact
• Impact on Agriculture: Standing paddy crop and plantations of banana, rubber, cardamom, pepper and arecanut have been devastated as the floods have been concentrated in the plantation districts of Idukki, Kottayam and Wayanad.
• Loss of Livelihood: According to Care Ratings, employment of nearly 41.3 lakh has been affected and the wage loss is estimated at around Rs 4,000 crore for August.
• Loss of Soil Fertility: Flood cause heavy damages to top soil, which takes time to be restored to its natural state.
• Cultural loss: Kerala government has cancelled the celebration of festival Onam, the harvest festival of Kerala.
• Economic Impact: According to ASSOCHAM, floods in Kerala could potentially have caused damage worth Rs
15,000-20,000 crore, which include infrastructural damages to 134 bridges and 16,000 km of Public Works
Department roads.
• Disease outbreak: Following severe flooding, 196 leptospirosis (rat fever) cases and nine deaths have been confirmed in Kerala.
o Leptospriosis (also called Weil's disease) is a waterborne bacterial disease, caused by the leptospiro bacteria. It rarely spreads from person to person and can be treated with common antibiotics. It’s incubation period is between five and 14 days.
NDMA guidelines on Management of Flood
• Shifting the focus to preparedness by implementing Flood Management Programs (FMPs).
• Ensuring regular monitoring of the effectiveness and sustainability of various structures and taking appropriate measures for their restoration and strengthening.
• Continuous modernization of flood forecasting, early warning and decision support systems.
• Ensuring the incorporation of flood resistant features in the design and construction of new structures in the flood prone areas.
• Drawing up time-bound plans for the flood proofing of strategic and public utility structures in flood prone areas.
• Improving the awareness and preparedness of all stakeholders in the flood prone areas.
• Introducing appropriate capacity development interventions for effective FM (including education, training, capacity building, research and development, and documentation.)
• Improving the compliance regime through appropriate.
Dam Management in India
• About 75 percent of the large dams in India are more than 25 years old and about 164 dams are more tha n
100 years old. A badly maintained, unsafe dam can be a hazard to human life, flora and fauna, even India has had 36 dam failures in the past.
Dam Rehabilitaton and Imporovement Plan (DRIP)
• It is an externally-aided project. 80% of the total project is provided by the World Bank as loan/credit and remaining 20% is borne by the States / Central Government (for CWC).
• This project started in April 2012, for repair and rehabilitation of initially 225 Dams across seven states namely Jharkhand (DVC), Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand (UJVNL).
• At present there are 198 Dams under this project which are scheduled for completion in June 2018.
• Objective of DRIP –
• to improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams and associated appurtenances in a sustainable manner, and
• to strengthen the dam safety institutional setup of participating States / Implementing Agencies.
Emergency Action Plan
• The Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Dams under DRIP has been proposed. EAP is a formal plan that identifies potential emergency conditions at a dam and prescribes the procedures to be followed to minimize loss of life and property damage.
• EAP help in streamlining the efforts and bring about better coordination among different agencies to execute rescue and relief activities.
Dam Safety Bill, 2018
• The objective of this Bill is to help develop uniform, countrywide procedures for ensuring the safety of dams and provides for proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in the country to ensure their safe functioning.
• It provides for constitution of a National Committee on Dam Safety which shall evolve dam safety policies
and recommend necessary regulations
• It provides for establishment of National Dam Safety Authority as a regulatory body which shall discharge functions to implement the policy, guidelines and standards for dam safety in the country.
• The Bill provides for constitution of a State Committee on Dam Safety by State Government.
About State Committee on Dam Safety
• It will ensure proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in that State and ensure their safe functioning.
• It lays onus of dam safety on the dam owner and provides for penal provisions for commission and omission of certain acts.
• Every state having specified number of dams will establish State Dam Safety Organization which will be manned by officers from the field dam safety preferably from the areas of dam-designs, hydro-mechanical engineering, hydrology, geo-technical investigation, instrumentation and dam-rehabilitation
Why in news?
Recently, Kerala witnessed their worst flood since 1924, killing at least 480 people, displacing 780,000 and causing
₹ 50,000 crore worth of damage in State.
Background
• India’s Vulnerability to Floods: 40 million hectares out of a geographical area of 3290 lakh hectares is prone to floods in country.
• Impact of Climate Change: Intensity of extremely wet spells and extremely dry spells during the South Asian monsoon season have been increasing since 1980.
• Financial Drain: Floods costs the country Rs. 8,12,500 crore between 1953 and 2011 and according to World Resources Institutes (WRI), by 2030, up to $154 billion of the country’s gross domestic product could be exposed to flood risks each year, as climate change fosters more extreme weather events.
• Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in June 2017 says the States have failed to conduct a scientific assessment of flood- prone areas and of the 349 dams surveyed, only 40 prepared detailed disaster management plans.
o It also pointed out that poor dam management was responsible for India’s floods, such as Bihar in 2016 and Surat in 2006. In the 2015 Chennai floods, which claimed
295 lives, violation of dam safety norms was a critical factor.
Flood vulnerability in Kerala
• Rashtriya Barh Aayog (RBA) had estimated 8.70 lakh hectares area as flood prone out of 38.90 lakh hectares of geographical area in Kerala.
• Kerala State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) in 2014
assessed that state is severely threatened by climate change (see infographic).
• Central Water Commission (CWC), India’s only flood forecasting agency, does not have any flood forecasting
system in Kerala.
• Gadgil report on fragile ecosystem of Western Ghats (2011), had warned that illegal mining and deforestation had led to massive encroachment of river fronts in the state, and there was an urgent need for corrective action.
o It also said that, unchecked quarrying and construction in ecologically sensitive areas, can cause disastrous floods due to premature siltation in many reservoirs in the Western Ghats.
Reasons
• Incessant rainfall: Kerala received 2,346.6 mm of rainfall against a normal of 1,649.5 mm since the beginning of June. The “active” phase of the monsoon is when the monsoon trough moves south of its normal position causing heavy and intense showers in the southern peninsula
• Dam Mismanagement: There was an instant release of water from dam due to heavy rain, as dam reservoirs were not emptied before the onset of rain, flooding the nearby regions at a much faster rate than expected.
o Kerala government claimed that sudden releases of water from the Mullaperiyar dam (located in Kerala, but operated by Tamil Nadu) was a cause for the floods in the State.
37 ©Vision IAS
• Stone quarrying: A recent study by the Kerala Forest Research Institute pointed out that there were 5,924 big, medium and small quarries in the state. Mudslides and landslides were reported in 211 different places across the state which is attributed to increasing stone quarrying activity and large-scale deforestation.
• Other factor which aided in flood are deforestation drive for development purpose, Uncontrolled sand mining has constrained river flows, while the rapid spread of high-rise buildings on unstable hill slopes has weakened the soil. This unplanned development has left the area susceptible to flash floods and landslides.
• Large expanse of low lying areas: About 10 per cent of its geographical area is below the sea level.
Impact
• Impact on Agriculture: Standing paddy crop and plantations of banana, rubber, cardamom, pepper and arecanut have been devastated as the floods have been concentrated in the plantation districts of Idukki, Kottayam and Wayanad.
• Loss of Livelihood: According to Care Ratings, employment of nearly 41.3 lakh has been affected and the wage loss is estimated at around Rs 4,000 crore for August.
• Loss of Soil Fertility: Flood cause heavy damages to top soil, which takes time to be restored to its natural state.
• Cultural loss: Kerala government has cancelled the celebration of festival Onam, the harvest festival of Kerala.
• Economic Impact: According to ASSOCHAM, floods in Kerala could potentially have caused damage worth Rs
15,000-20,000 crore, which include infrastructural damages to 134 bridges and 16,000 km of Public Works
Department roads.
• Disease outbreak: Following severe flooding, 196 leptospirosis (rat fever) cases and nine deaths have been confirmed in Kerala.
o Leptospriosis (also called Weil's disease) is a waterborne bacterial disease, caused by the leptospiro bacteria. It rarely spreads from person to person and can be treated with common antibiotics. It’s incubation period is between five and 14 days.
NDMA guidelines on Management of Flood
• Shifting the focus to preparedness by implementing Flood Management Programs (FMPs).
• Ensuring regular monitoring of the effectiveness and sustainability of various structures and taking appropriate measures for their restoration and strengthening.
• Continuous modernization of flood forecasting, early warning and decision support systems.
• Ensuring the incorporation of flood resistant features in the design and construction of new structures in the flood prone areas.
• Drawing up time-bound plans for the flood proofing of strategic and public utility structures in flood prone areas.
• Improving the awareness and preparedness of all stakeholders in the flood prone areas.
• Introducing appropriate capacity development interventions for effective FM (including education, training, capacity building, research and development, and documentation.)
• Improving the compliance regime through appropriate.
Dam Management in India
• About 75 percent of the large dams in India are more than 25 years old and about 164 dams are more tha n
100 years old. A badly maintained, unsafe dam can be a hazard to human life, flora and fauna, even India has had 36 dam failures in the past.
Dam Rehabilitaton and Imporovement Plan (DRIP)
• It is an externally-aided project. 80% of the total project is provided by the World Bank as loan/credit and remaining 20% is borne by the States / Central Government (for CWC).
• This project started in April 2012, for repair and rehabilitation of initially 225 Dams across seven states namely Jharkhand (DVC), Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand (UJVNL).
• At present there are 198 Dams under this project which are scheduled for completion in June 2018.
• Objective of DRIP –
• to improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams and associated appurtenances in a sustainable manner, and
• to strengthen the dam safety institutional setup of participating States / Implementing Agencies.
Emergency Action Plan
• The Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Dams under DRIP has been proposed. EAP is a formal plan that identifies potential emergency conditions at a dam and prescribes the procedures to be followed to minimize loss of life and property damage.
• EAP help in streamlining the efforts and bring about better coordination among different agencies to execute rescue and relief activities.
Dam Safety Bill, 2018
• The objective of this Bill is to help develop uniform, countrywide procedures for ensuring the safety of dams and provides for proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in the country to ensure their safe functioning.
• It provides for constitution of a National Committee on Dam Safety which shall evolve dam safety policies
and recommend necessary regulations
• It provides for establishment of National Dam Safety Authority as a regulatory body which shall discharge functions to implement the policy, guidelines and standards for dam safety in the country.
• The Bill provides for constitution of a State Committee on Dam Safety by State Government.
About State Committee on Dam Safety
• It will ensure proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in that State and ensure their safe functioning.
• It lays onus of dam safety on the dam owner and provides for penal provisions for commission and omission of certain acts.
• Every state having specified number of dams will establish State Dam Safety Organization which will be manned by officers from the field dam safety preferably from the areas of dam-designs, hydro-mechanical engineering, hydrology, geo-technical investigation, instrumentation and dam-rehabilitation
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