13th Anniversary of the ‘Mumbai Deluge 2005’
Every year, the floods in Mumbai and the paralysis suffered by the city brings up the question – ‘Why are Indian cities unable to improve their resilience to extreme weather events?’
In the forward march of urbanisation, it defies logic why our city planners cannot get two essential things right: The development of an early disaster warning system; and the renewal of city infrastructure. No lessons were learnt after 955 mm of rain drowned Mumbai and killed 1,493 people more than a decade ago on 26 July 2005. The stories and images are the same.
To avoid flood and rain disasters, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) must provide timely warnings, and the local authorities must act on them. In Mumbai, both failed. Even if the IMD had issued the warning on the morning of the deluge, it would have been too late as people had already left for work.
As a result, hundreds were stuck in offices, trapped in cars and trains trying to rush home. Those in low-lying areas had no time to evacuate. Media too failed. Instead of broadcasting the early signs and keeping people out of harm’s way, the TV networks preferred to have a field day after the deluge.
Mumbai is an old city with as many as 19,000 ‘cessed’ British era buildings. Of these 5,000 are over a 100 years old, while 7,608 are over 80 years old. About 2 million people live in these buildings. Mhada sticks notices informing residents that the building is ‘dangerous’ and advises them to ‘move out’. But with lack of alternatives in the shelter-starved city, where do the people go?
‘Housing for All by 2022’ and ‘The Smart Cities Mission’ are slogans that must first find meaning in blighted cities like Mumbai if we are to avoid more disaster in the coming monsoons. Learnings from Mumbai are important for other cities as well, to prepare for a future in which scientists think there will be more days of short but intense rain spells.
Given that monsoon flooding is inescapable, citizens and communities need to prepare. If there is a single priority that every city needs, it is to reopen the veins of natural drainage that have been callously built over.
