Managing urban water disasters in Gujarat: Risk assessment and risk reduction

Gujarat is the third most urbanised states in India and is currently experiencing a very high rate of economic growth. High levels of urbanisation have made much of the urban areas highly impermeable. This has made urban areas more vulnerable to water-related disasters. At the same time, the overall occurrence rate of climatic induced water-related disasters in Gujarat has increased. Recent flash floods have shown their adverse impact on urban areas and the existing management of the water supply is inefficient and unable to cope with the high risk of water-related disasters. Often, it is the poorest city dwellers who are most affected by this mismanagement. The current disaster management plan is inadequate and does not consider proactive risk reduction strategies. This paper has assessed the risk and vulnerability aspects of urban disasters in Gujarat and has proposes more concrete strategies. There is a need to have strong disaster management strategies which not only reduce the risk due to water-related disasters, but also augment access to sage, urban water resources for all urban dwellers.