Flood Mitigation in Developing Countries: A Case Study of India

Abstract

Floods are the common natural disasters in most of the developing countries, and India isno exception.Due to the geographic and climatic conditions the country remains under threat. Floods have been recurrent phenomenon in many parts of India, causing loss of lives and public property and bringing untold misery to the people. The floods that occurred in India in 2013 were highly catastrophic based on the number of victims. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC (2013) continues to steer the evacuation efforts as well as in rescuing the stranded victims. Methods of structural control of floodwater can be grouped into four types; namely, storage, diversion, enhancing channel capacity, and constriction of the water within the channel. The following flood mitigation measures could be adopted to mitigate the adverse impacts of severe floods and to prevent normal floods. Flood walls are constructed out of materials such as concrete or steel in order to control the flow of flood waters and prevent the flooding of specific areas. The construction of floodwalls and embankments has been the traditional means of protecting low lying communities and infrastructure against flooding. Flood hazard maps contain information about the probability or magnitude of an event whereas flood risk maps contain additional information about the consequences. Flood insurance is one of the effective ways in order to cope with the aftermaths of flood events. The Indian government acknowledges the problems the country faces because of the various natural disasters that occur. Consequently, various agencies have been instituted to evaluate the country’s exposure to disasters and to develop ways of mitigating or managing the impacts of the disasters.