Contextualising Floods in India: The Challenge of Reinterpreting Flood Risk Management from a Socio-Political Perspective
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Ayushi Jain
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay India
in.ayushijain@gmail.com
Author(s):
Prathamesh Mokal1
1Indian Institute Of Technology Bombay, Mokalprathamesh95@Gmail.Com, IND
Since the 1950s, the Indian government has advocated structural and non-structural measures to minimise the loss of lives, property, and ecology. Over the decades, the non-structural measures such as Flood Plain Zoning (FPZ) has gained momentum as a policy solution promoted at international and national platforms to minimise losses as well as a sustainable method to preserve and consciously develop floodplains.
Meanwhile, in recent years, the risks associated with flooding are exacerbating due to its rising frequency as a consequence of human-induced and topographical factors. For instance, in Uttarakhand, the 2013 flood is only one of the catastrophic flood events now. Whereas in Delhi, the flooding in low-lying colonies in 2010 was the first after 1978. While the 2013 Uttarakhand and 2010 Delhi floods were initially underlined as unparallel events, the frequency of breaches and similar events have come to demand a more nuanced, inter-disciplinary and multi-dimensional understanding of such disasters.
The research roots itself in the emerging body of literature that compellingly argues that disasters are not natural but socio-political in nature. Resultantly, it emphasises on disaster risks' relationship with the role of governance, the factors of society and the environment. Integral to the study, is also an acknowledgement of the gaps in integrating disaster risk management with governance.
In this research, we utilise the case of Uttarakhand and Delhi to uncover one such complex relationship that dictates the disaster impact and potential risks. It relies on the framework of political ecology to situate it at the intersection of three factors. First, the nature of differential power distribution between levels of governance, second, the anthropocentric interpretation of flooding as a hazard, and third, the socio-political positioning of the sections of the population who experience the disaster losses.
For this purpose, in this secondary research, we unfold the flooding events of 2013 Uttarakhand and 2010 Delhi to reinterpret them as complex disasters. The objective is to situate the discussions under the ambit of disaster discourse focused upon drawing correlations between complexities of day-to-day governance interactions and disaster events.
Complex Disasters as Future Challenge for Disaster Research and Management