The coastal cities in India, including Chennai, will be at risk from the impact of flooding due to rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions, according to a report ‘Natural Disasters Saving Lives Today Building Resilience For Tomorrow’. The report, which was released in the city by Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on Tuesday, said that India ranked second to Bangladesh when it came to facing high risk of disaster due to climate change.
He said that man-made changes had removed the natural barriers protecting against extreme natural events thereby increasing the likelihood of disasters. These include human activities such as deforestation, swamp and marsh degradation, island development and sand dune removal.
The report highlighted the trend of global urbanisation, which was projected to result in 75 per cent of world’s population living in towns and cities by 2050. Ninety-five per cent of the expansion in urban living is being anticipated in developing countries.
“The movement of population into areas such as coastal regions, flood plains and earthquake zones that are typically less resilient to extreme natural events, has been identified in the report as one of the factors along with degradation of the natural environment that is moving the world towards more natural disasters,” the report said.
The report stated that by 2050, it was anticipated that an extra three billion people will be located in urban settings, with much of the growth taking place in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The report recommended more international development funding on building future resilience. “Currently, only four per cent of all international humanitarian aid is channeled to helping build resilience in disaster hot spots well below UN’s recommended 10 per cent,” the report stated.
“As it is estimated that every $ one spent on making communities more resilient can save as much as $ four in disaster relief, recovery and reconstruction later,” the report added.
The report also stated that during the post-disaster besides adoption of new engineering techniques, codes of practice and building standards, local capacity must also be built for proper implementation and maintenance. “This requires not just the transfer of technical engineering capability to local populations but also the political will by those in government for adoption and implementation,” the report added.
