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India is prone to various natural hazards such as floods, cyclones, droughts, landslides/slope failures, earthquakes and tsunamis, etc. In recent years, the impact of climate change and uncontrolled urbanization have led to an escalation of disaster damage. Of all the hazards that occur in India, floods are considered to cause the greatest amount of damage, with approximately 200 floods occurring between 1995 and 2020, resulting in 38,000 deaths and causing damage of approximately US$70.7 billion.
In 2004, the Indian government established a national disaster management framework, and in 2005 enacted the Disaster Management Act, which requires each state to formulate a disaster management plan. In 2007, the government also formulated guidelines for the preparation of state disaster management plans, which are reviewed as necessary in line with higher-level plans. In response to the "Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030," the Government of India has updated the guidelines, and has set forth a policy for planning in line with four priority actions, based on which state governments are considering measures to promote disaster preparedness, disaster forecasting, and damage mitigation. The Tamil Nadu State Government, which includes the Chennai metropolitan area in the project area, has also developed the "Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Perspective Plan 2018-2019" that takes into account the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the priorities of the 10 Agenda of the Prime Minister of India. The plan also includes measures to integrate development planning and disaster mitigation measures, and to invest in disaster prevention infrastructure projects before a natural disaster strikes (proactive investment in disaster prevention) and to accumulate experience and technology to promote projects to reduce disaster risks. However, there is a lack of experience and technology to invest in disaster prevention infrastructure projects before a natural disaster strikes (proactive investment) and to promote projects to reduce disaster risk.
The Chennai metropolitan area has experienced major floods in 1943, 1976, 1985, 1998, 2002, 2005, and 2015, respectively, due to cyclones and heavy rains. In particular, the December 2015 floods claimed 289 lives, inundated a large number of houses (about 500,000), disrupted power and communication services, and halted transportation by air, rail, and road, causing extensive economic damage, including damage to public and private property.
On the other hand, the Chennai metropolitan area does not have an overall master plan for flood control, and as a result, the state government and donors have not been able to implement projects aimed at drastically reducing flood risks, because they have been implementing symptomatic measures based on projects that are easy to start without considering overall optimization. In addition, in the Chennai metropolitan area, development on flat terrain with high flood risk and inhabitants have led to the accumulation of assets in flood plains, increasing the potential for damage from future flooding. Furthermore, recent development has led to a decline in the natural flood control functions that existed in the past.
Under these circumstances, the Chennai metropolitan area urgently needs to elucidate the mechanisms of the diverse and complex complex factors that contribute to urban flooding, formulate a basic flood control policy and a flood control improvement plan, including a flood control philosophy and a flood control safety level, and implement drastic flood control measures in accordance with this plan.
The Overall Goal
Contribute to fundamental flood risk reduction based on a comprehensive Flood Control Master Plan that combines flood control measures in the Chennai metropolitan area in an optimal and systematic manner.
Project Purpose
To contribute to flood risk reduction by formulating a Comprehensive Flood Control Master Plan with an optimal and systematic combination of flood risk reduction measures in Chennai metropolitan area |
