Long-term flood mitigation plan for Chennai needed: Central Team
Adding that they want to understand the problem the state government was having and try to find out what help the central government could do, the central team head said, "We want to understand what has gone wrong, how the state machinery has acted and helped people?"
CHENNAI: The six-member inter-ministerial central team assessing flood damage caused by Cyclone Michaung insisted that a long-term flood mitigation plan was needed for the city.
Kunal Satyarthi, advisor of NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) and head of the central team said, "We need to think about a larger mitigation program for the city because these are short term measures of response - rescue and relief. We are also concerned about how we make sure that when this happens next time, the state government must have a long term strategy and make sure that this problem does not repeat. If the impact is there, we cannot stop the weather. But if the impact is there, it should be minimal on people."
Remarking that heavy rainfall and cyclones have been there for many years in Chennai, Kunal Satyarthi said, "This city has survived being at two to six meters above sea level. When climate change and more rainfall happens, the city has to be more prepared for that. That is not the mandate of the team. But we are looking at the long-term strategy."
"How do you plan a growing Chennai? If we do urban development we need to make sure that the water of a storm is also taken care of in the urban design. That is the conversation that is supposed to be happening. As long as reservoirs and water bodies are there, they need to be left to live and take the water out of Chennai as quickly as possible, " the NDMA advisor added.
Adding that they want to understand the problem the state government was having and try to find out what help the central government could do, the central team head said, "We want to understand what has gone wrong, how the state machinery has acted and helped people?"
Reiterating that the capacity building and preparedness of the state government has been good and they did not see any reaction, the NDMA advisor said, "I went in to the people's houses and they have lost a lot of belongings, particularly in the ground floor because of 10 to 12 feet rise in the water level. That was unfortunate because of the weather conditions that day and night. So, in relief, something wrong has happened. We need to be with the people."
"We are assessing both loss and damage right now. We would be apprising both the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the union home minister about what we found, " he added.
