Integrated Disaster Management

Assignment

th
“Floods in Mumbai 26 July 2005”

Submitted By:

Anant Jain

10020741040

(MBA I, Batch A)
Name: Anant Jain Flood in Mumbai 26th July 2005: A report
TRN: 040

The Monsoons:
Our two key ingredients for the Asian Monsoon are:
1. Large Land Mass - namely southern Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka)
2. Large Ocean - the surrounding Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

From April, the pre-monsoon heat builds over the land and with time will result in
continuous rise of the rarer air (as the land warms faster) and form areas of low pressure, most
commonly over North India and the Himalayas.

Meanwhile, over the oceans the air is cooler and denser so it is linked to areas of high
pressure. The temperature difference between the land and sea can be as much as 20°C - land
temperatures in India can even exceed 45°C,while the surrounding water in the Bay of Bengal
and the Arabian Sea remains in the low 20s.

The winds in the Southwest monsoons blow over the warm tropical oceans where they suck
up- by evaporation - water from the oceans and become moisture laden. This results in the
formation of squally areas of cumulonimbus clouds that grow to heights of 10 miles or more.

Forecasting the arrival of the monsoon:

Each year the distribution and the pattern of precipitation during the monsoons vary.
The monsoon is very important to southern Asia, as its economy is based primarily on
agriculture.

Accurate forecasting of the timing of the onset is very important as it then allows
farmers to choose the ideal time to plant their crops. Too much or too little rain can have
disastrous effects on the agricultural community, which may in turn have a cascading effect on
the rest of the economy.

“The main precursor is the onset of south-westerly winds. During late April and early
May we start looking for southwesterly winds, which take a while to properly set in. More and
more cloud starts building up over southern India and Sri Lanka and then rolls in from the
Indian Ocean. We then see showers becoming more and more frequent."

The importance of monsoon forecasting can therefore not be underestimated.

Computer models of the monsoon are becoming more complex and increasingly accurate.
However, the impact that global warming may have on the monsoon is not yet fully
understood.

Scientific research will have to be increased in this area to determine these effects,
which may have important implications for the economy, health and agriculture, not only in
southern Asia, but also across the whole planet.

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Name: Anant Jain Flood in Mumbai 26th July 2005: A report
TRN: 040

Presently, however, weather forecasting is rather inaccurate when it comes to

predicting conditions in the short term. Though strides are being made to improve the
situation, we cannot rely entirely on forecasting just yet. It wou
would
ld be wise to implement
measures to mitigate the damage in case of heavy rains, such as improving the drainage system
and keeping the emergency services on alert and well equipped in areas susceptible to floods
and landslides.

Topography:
India's western coast receives high rainfall due to the presence of the Western Ghats
which lie at about 50 km (30 miles) from the coast. The hill range runs parallel to the Indian
coast at an average altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). Rain bearing clouds generally deposit
much of their moisture through orographic rainfall along India's western coast which lies on the
windward side of the hills...

Maharashtra Flood:
The Maharashtra floods of 2005 refers to
the flooding of many parts of the Indian
state of Maharashtra
ra including large
areas of the metropolis Mumbai, a city
located on the coast of the Arabian Sea,
on the western coast of India, in which at
least 5,000 people died.

Large numbers of people were stranded on the road, lost their homes, and many walked for
long distances back home from work that evening. The floods were caused by the eighth
heaviest ever recorded 24-hour
hour rainfall figure of 994 mm (39.1 inches) which lashed the
metropolis on 26 July 2005, and intermittently continued for the next day.
Thousands
nds of school children were stranded due to flooding and could not reach home for up
to 24 hours. The following two days were declared as school and college holidays by the state
government. The city region and the suburbs that make up the metropolis of Mu Mumbai received
994 mm (39.1 inches).

Many promises were made by subsequent governments that disaster management policies and
programmes would be put in place. Twenty four hours before the rains hit Mumbai on 26 July,
the weather forecasts warned of heavy rains to the tune of 15 to 16cm. However, their warning
was nowhere near how the rains turned out to be when the city received 94cm in one single
day – a record in 100 years. Later, the weatherman blamed Offshore Vortex,, a rare climatic
phenomenon, for their ir inaccurate weather prediction.

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Name: Anant Jain Flood in Mumbai 26th July 2005: A report
TRN: 040

Effects Of Mumbai Flood:

• Financial Effect:
The financial cost of floods was unprecedented and these floods caused a
stoppage of entire commercial, trading, and industrial activity for days. Preliminary
indications indicate that the floods caused a direct loss of about Rs. 450 crores (€80
million or US$100 million). The financial impact of the floods were manifested in a
variety of ways:
o The banking transactions across the counters were adversely affected and many
branches and commercial establishments were unable to function from late
evening of 26 July 2005. The state government declared the 27 th (and later,
28th) of July as a public holiday. ATM networks of several banks stopped
functioning from the afternoon of 26 July 2005 at all the centers of Mumbai.
ATM transactions could not be carried out in several parts of India on 26 July
2005 or 27 July 2005 due to failure of the connectivity with their central systems
located in Mumbai.

o The Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India, the
premier stock exchanges of India could function only partially. As most of the
trading are eTrading, trading terminals of the brokerage houses across the
country remained largely inoperative. Ironically, in partial trading, the Sensex,
India's most tracked equity index closed at an all time high of 7605.03 on 27 July
2005. The Exchanges, however, remained closed for the following day.

Effect on Mumbai's links to the rest of the world

• For the first time ever, Mumbai's domestic and international airports (including
Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Sahar and Juhu aerodrome) were shut for more
than 30 hours due to heavy flooding of the runways and extremely poor visibility. Over
700 flights were cancelled or delayed. The airports reopened on the morning of 28 July
2005. Within 24 hours of the airports becoming operational, there were 185 departures
and 184 arrivals, including international flights. Again from early morning of 31 July,
with increase in water logging of the runways and different parts of Mumbai, most of
the flights were indefinitely cancelled.
• Rail links were disrupted, and reports on late evening of 30 July indicated cancellation of
several long distance trains up to 6 August, 2005.
• The Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which witnessed a number of landslides, was closed the
first time ever in its history, for 24 hours.
• According to the Hindustan Times, an unprecedented 5 million mobile and 2.3 million
MTNL landline users were hit for over four hours.

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Name: Anant Jain Flood in Mumbai 26th July 2005: A report
TRN: 040

• According to the .in registrar (personal communication), the .in DNS servers in Mumbai
had to be reconfigured because the servers were not operational.

Transport stats:
• 52 local trains damaged
• 37,000 autorickshaws spoilt
• 4,000 taxis
• 900 BEST buses damaged
• 10,000 trucks and tempos grounded

Factors aggravating the disaster in Mumbai

• Antiquated drainage system

Blockage of the Drainage System
 Mumbai received a record 94 cm. of rainfall within 24 hours on 26 July
2005. Also, the high tide also did not help matters. But the water that
collected in the city should have ebbed when the tide receded. That did
not happen.
 Mumbai's storm water drains are designed to shut during high tide. This
prevents tidal water from entering the city, but on very rainy days, it also
prevents rainwater from draining out.
 One of the main reasons for the flood is the increasing concrete rate in
the city. These days it is very hard to see the soil in Mumbai, apart from
the outskirts. Everywhere, all that is seen is concrete. Soil absorbs the
excess water from the surface. But, in the absence of soil, no water is
absorbed and hence, the water gets accumulated.
 There has been a total neglect of the nature of Mumbai's hydrological
system. We know that heavy downpours are inevitable every few years
or so. Hence, it must be ensured that natural drainage channels are well-
maintained. Instead of encroaching upon and filling up urban lakes, to
use the high-value urban land for buildings, these lakes and tanks should
be well protected.

Role of Plastic Bags

 On August 24, 2005 the Maharashtra government banned manufacture,
sale and use of all plastic bags, alleging that they choked drainage
systems during recent monsoon rains. Chief Minster Vilasrao Deshmukh
said that the ban was prompted by the indiscriminate use of plastic bags,
which blocked sewage and drainage systems during record monsoon
rains in July.
 However, this is not the first time that Mumbai is banning plastic bags.
The previous occasion was the 1998 monsoon rains that flooded the city.

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Name: Anant Jain Flood in Mumbai 26th July 2005: A report
TRN: 040

At that time, the BMC removed as much as 15 tonnes ofplastic bags from
Matunga to free the choked storm water drainage.

Old Drainage System

The floods were caused by Mumbai receiving a record 94 cm. of rainfall

within 24 hours on July 26, 2005. But the city's waterways and creeks are
capable of handling worse, except for the spate of construction activity and the
even-greater amount of rubbish that is now being chucked into them daily.

City planners have long warned that storm drains, built more than a
century ago, were getting choked by garbage and construction debris. The
current drainage system in Mumbai, which was put in place at the beginning of
the 20th century, is only capable of handling rain intensity of 25 mm per hour
which is inadequate to meet present requirements. The system is also clogged at
several places.

• Uncontrolled, unplanned development in Northern Suburbs

Unlike South Mumbai, development in northern suburbs of Mumbai is

haphazard and buildings are constructed without proper planning. The drainage plans in
northern suburbs is chalked out as and whenrequired in a particular area and not from
an overall point of view.

The Environment Ministry of the Government of India was informed in the early
1990s that sanctioning the Bandra-Kurla complex (a commercial complex in northern
Mumbai) was leading to disaster. No environment clearance is mandatory for large
urban construction projects in northern Mumbai. Officialsin the environment ministry
claimed that it was not practical to impose new guidelines with retrospective effect "as
there are millions of buildings"

• Destruction of mangrove ecosystems

Before getting into a discussion of the consequences of the destruction of

mangroves, it would be pertinent to dwell on what mangroves are, and then to state the
utility and significance of mangroves for human civilization. Growing in the inter-tidal
areas and estuary mouths between land and sea, mangroves provide critical habitat for
a diverse marine and terrestrial flora and fauna. Healthy mangrove forests are a key to a
healthy marine ecology. The best of mangroves are found in Asia, especially in India and
Bangladesh.

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Name: Anant Jain Flood in Mumbai 26th July 2005: A report
TRN: 040

Mangroves in Mumbai play a very significant role. Because of the high salinity of
the soil, around 60 percent of Mumbai mangroves comprise Avicennia marina. Not
surprisingly, this species also tolerates pollution including heavy metals such as lead,
mercury and chromium, all found in significant concentrations in the Mithi River.
Mangroves represent the spirit of Mumbai – they are plucky survivors. But each
day, millions of citizens in Mumbai pass these hardy plants imagining they are little
more than dirty, muddy weeds growing pointlessly along the shoreline. Very few people
understand just how important mangroves are to the quality of life of the citizens of
Mumbai.
Mumbai has probably lost 40 per cent of all its mangroves in the past decade or
so, largely because of reclamation for housing, slums, sewage treatment and garbage
dumps. Fortunately, thanks to the Godrej family, we still have excellent mangrove
forests in Vikhroli.
However, the importance of mangroves has been neglected over period of time.
The main culprit in the destruction of mangroves is Man. To achieve supremacy over
Nature, human beings have destroyed this magnificent ecosystem almost irreparably.
Land reclamations and industrial effluents are the major causes for mangrove
degradation.

There are several reasons why mangroves must be protected.

o Mangroves are buffers between the land and sea and hence they protect the
land from erosion.
o Secondly, they are land builders.
o Moreover, they also harbour a variety of life forms like invertebrates, fish,
amphibians, reptiles, birds and even mammals like tigers.
o Besides, mangroves are the main source of income generation for shoreline
communities like fisher folk.

 They also help to stabilize climate by moderating temperature, humidity, wind and even
waves. They are specially adapted to withstand salinity, wave action, and can grow in
poor soils.

Failure of disaster management plan:

Disaster:
A disaster is defined as a sudden massive disproportion between hostile
elements of any kind and the survival resources that are available to counterbalance
these in the shortest period of time.
In mass casualty situations, demands always exceed the capacity of personnel
and facilities. In the last few years, there has been an increased incidence of civil
disasters; the spectrum of possible catastrophes has also & dramatically increased as a
result of an increasingly technologically sophisticated society. Disaster preparedness

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Name: Anant Jain Flood in Mumbai 26th July 2005: A report
TRN: 040

plans must encompass the possibility of nuclear accidents, hotel and high-rise fires,
terrorist attacks, aviation accidents, bomb blasts, riots and industrial explosions as well
as natural calamities such as floods, epidemics drought and cyclones,
The emphasis of medical management shifts from individualized treatment to
standardized therapy for disaster victims with the aim of providing maximum benefit to
a maximum number of salvageable patients. "A successful medical response to multi-
injury civilian disasters, either natural or manmade, dictates formulation, dissemination
and periodic assessment of a contingency plan to facilitate the triage and treatment of
victims of the disaster.

Old disaster management plan:

The old disaster management plan was brought into action, under the former Chief
Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Sharad Pawar, in 1983 after the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. It
was made just to overcome blast situation but not to take over natural calamities like flooding,
earthquakes and cyclones. This Disaster management action plan was under implementation till
last July.
Despite the presence of disaster management plan in Maharashtra, there was a delay in
deployment of government machinery to help lakhs of people marooned without food and
water. There was no effort to communicate to those stranded either. Combine the lack of
preparedness with man-made disaster like encroachments on creek and coastline,
concretization of roads and choking of the Mithi River, Mumbai’s biggest natural drain, and the
havoc caused by terrible Tuesday seems less of a surprise.

Recommendations:

1. To increase the competency of BMC, Government must semi privatize the cleaning
service of Mumbai.

2. Slums must be demolished on all important areas like airports, road encroachments,
rail, Encroachments, etc. Alternately provide houses to people living in slums.

3. Prevent further destruction of mangroves.

4. Implement the Storm Water Disposal System.

5. Hire a reputed Consultancy Firm a Disaster Management Plan for the city.