#futurechennai

[inspiringchennai-blog]

City and its citizens went under overnight

A comprehensive development plan for Chennai, which was submitted to the government in 2009, was prescient in its understanding of what could befall a city groaning under the burden of ultra-rapid development. The recommendations contained in this report, prepared by a former bureaucrat, were ignored by the Corporation of Chennai (CoC).

This report is the first of two articles that investigate the findings of the report and the city administration’s lapses. The second part will appear on Tuesday and be accompanied by an analysis of the report, by AK Roy, senior fellow, Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory, Shiv Nadar University.

Report 1:  Storm water drainage infrastructure, according to Devasahayam, in most of the municipalities is “either nonexistent or inadequate. Only a few municipalities have functional drainage systems.

Firstpost Investigation: Were the Chennai floods a government-made disaster? (by Tarique Anwar | FirstPost | Dec 14, 2015 17:15 IST)

Report 2: Chennai has had a history of heavy rain. Every few years, heavy cyclones and the monsoon unleash massive quantities of water on the city.

Firstpost Investigation: How Chennai, hungry for growth, devoured itself (FirstPost | Dec 15, 2015 16:34 IST)

[inspiringchennai-blog]

Simulating events to plan disaster responses

Every time there is a flood, it is the same scenario: heavy rains initiate them but they are made disastrously worse by poor management of lakes and reservoirs, which are opened at the last minute to dump lots of water, creating catastrophic floods, far more than what would have occurred from just the rains,” said Balaji Rajagopalan of Colorado University, an expert in hydrology and water resources. 

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“What frustrates me is that this is not rocket science and is routinely done in the U.S. and other places. Weather forecasts in conjunction with hydrological models can provide forecasts of inflows to the reservoirs. This information is then used in a decision support system to make releases. This is adapted as the forecasts evolve. Of course, urban planning, maintenance of drainage ways will significantly mitigate the impacts. Cities should plan for such scenarios by simulating such events to see the impact so that they can plan disaster responses,” Rajagopalan said.

Why It Happened: The monsoon story (By R. Ramachandran | Frontline | Print edition : December 25, 2015)

[inspiringchennai-blog]

Cities must be smart in a low-tech sense

In virtually every affected area, the flooding can be linked to ill-planned construction, which has taken place without regard to hydrology or Chennai’s natural ecosystems.

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The Chennai tragedy is a wake-up call to India. The disaster could have been avoided if strict measures had been taken to preserve water bodies and respect environmental imperatives. 

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the country is planning to build a hundred “smart cities” to bring hi-tech growth to urban centres. But India’s cities must be smart in a low-tech sense, too. The lesson of Chennai is that we cannot let more construction, urbanisation, and manufacturing erode our natural resilience to familiar monsoon weather events.

Chennai floods: An error of man, not an ‘act of God’ (By Shashi Tharoor, Special to Gulf News | Published: 14:12 December 8, 2015)

[inspiringchennai-blog]

‘Normal’ notion about hygiene and sanitation

But the solution does not lie in blaming the government, criticizing systems and structures, questioning delays and decisions on disaster response, political affiliations and issuing advisories. We have only ourselves to blame for the city’s present unhygienic conditions due to hoarding of our garbage, an eye-sore in every street. Our solid waste dumped into impotent drainage systems requires super powers to clean them and as this could not be done earlier, we may be on the brink of an urban epidemic of mammoth proportions. We saw it coming all long and waited for an act of nature to blame.

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For the civilized and culturally rich state that Tamil Nadu is known to be, this season revealed one of our true colors – our seemingly ‘normal’ notion that hygiene and sanitation is the neighbor’s business and not ours to own. Unless you and I (Yes, I am responsible too!) awaken from this complacent nap and not pass the blame around – this year’s terrible disaster may herald that beginning of a diseased era for a historic city. A city trapped in its own garbage and sinking.

Why as a doctor Chennai's flood relief camps break my hear (Posted on: 03:51 PM IST Dec 08, 2015 | Dr Anita Victor | IBNLIVE.COM)

[clearestatemag-blog]

Chennai is rethinking it priorities. Its municipal corporation, the oldest in India, is creating a network of footpaths, cycle tracks and greenways to encourage residents to walk or cycle and to ease the passage of human-powered transport like cycle rickshaws and pushcarts.

Future Chennai