Mumbai Floods – An Analysis of the institutional responses

Why in news?

Mumbai recently received the highest ever 24 hour rainfall for the August month since 1997.

How did the government & community respond?

• With excessive rains devastating Mumbai, the pressure on the Municipal Corporation to deliver was immense. 
• All the BMC services were running and uninterrupted power & water supply was maintained.
• While, the tireless work of the municipal employees deserves applause, the police force too adapted admirably to working under challenging conditions.
• The public also contributed in numerous ways to ease the distress of the calamity by providing for food & shelter to the needy.

What have been the major sticky points?

• Ignored Warning - India Meteorological Department (IMD) had apparently warned of a deluge-like situation a day earlier.
• This wasn’t heeded by the government and hence schools & colleges remained functional till the deluge intensified.
• While the government’s high-headed attitude deserves severe condemnation, it is partly due to the poor track record of the IMD that had led to its warning being ignored.
• Meteorological Deficiencies - The IMD’s excuse for its failure is that it does not have the computing power to process all the data from satellites.
• Also, Doppler radar, one of the important instruments for accurate weather forecasting, is deficient in India.
• While India requires 55 of them, currently only 10 is available & the procurement of the rest is repeatedly getting delayed.

How did the TV Channels respond?

• While telephone lines get jammed soon during a calamity, television and radio usually continue to reach a maximum number of people.
• TRP Madness - The important thing during the deluge was to keep citizens informed about the precise situation, hour by hour, area by area.
• But rather, all news channels were more focused on castigated the BMC and other authorities over their failures for TRPs.
• Tidal woes - If people had been informed of the timing of tides that affect flooding patterns by the TV channels, the stress could’ve been reduced.  
• Logistics - If people had been told trains had stopped running, they wouldn’t have waited for hours at railway platforms.
• While, TV channels need to be sensitised on their moral responsibilities, the government could also alternately consider developing an emergency app which gives accurate and vital information during calamities.

What is the larger picture regarding floods?

• Data correlates increasing erraticity & massive downpours to the largely to the current decade.
• Experts interpret that these as the effects of Global warming and climate change.
• While it will be too expensive to have robust systems to withstand the emerging extreme eventualities, it needs to be recognized that a lot has to be done to even meet the average highs of annual downpour.
• Convservation of wetlands & mangroves holds the key to a sustained solution for dealing with floods. 
• Offiicial apathy in recognizing the importance of open spaces, designing sufficient dirnage systems & checking encroachemts contributes a great deal in aggrevating floods.

Source: Indian Express