Kerala Floods 2018 Lessons Learnt Overview 450 dead

Kerala Floods, 2018 Lessons Learnt

Overview • • 450 dead 279 men 98 women 73 children All 14 districts affected 1260/1664 villages affected 687 km square of land flooded Accompanied by 5000 landslides

Lesson 1: Convergence of Assessments • • • Joint Rapid Disaster Needs Assessment by WORLD BANK - 25, 050 Cr Post Disaster Needs Assessment by UN led team 26, 986 Cr Memorandum to Central Government - 5616 Cr Convergence in the process of Damage and Loss Assessment to facilitate a holistic framework from responding to recovering from any disaster.

Lesson 2 : Prudent Use of Land Water Resources • Ecologically sensitive area • Guiding investment to secure community benefits • • • from development Reports before the disaster as well as after disasters Unrestricted mining operations High rise buildings on unstable hill slopes Destruction of wetlands Use of forest area for other activities Soil erosion Disaster highlighted the need to use our land natural resources prudently.

Lesson 3: Policy of BBB • Paradigm shift by bringing the concept of BBB in Policy • PDNA also included recovery needs for building resilient infrastructure • Concept of “Nava Keralam” was propagated to build a new Kerala to withstand future disasters • Rebuild Kerala Development Programme initiated. • Focus on creating climate-resilient infrastructure and realising sustainable livelihoods. • 5 year interventions outlined.

Lesson 4: Dam Management • Issue was widely discussed • Dams were already full when the rains started • Water was released suddenly without adequate warning • Dams were not meant fro controlling floods • Played negligible role in aggravating floods • Caused by water release from Dams in TN Any structure which can impact lives need to be reviewed and EAPs need to be developed to avoid such issues in future.

Lesson 5: Women as Disaster Responders • Women viewed as a more vulnerable group became effective responders • Kudumbasree • Poverty eradication and women empowerment programme implemented by the State Poverty Eradication Mission of the Government of Kerala. • Donations over 5 crore, Cleaning Houses, Psychosocial Support, Packed meals Distribution, Camp management, Making cloth bags for relief kits, training skills at relief camps

Lesson 6 : Role of Technology • Social media platforms. Facebook posts, Twitter updates and Whats app groups were used to get information across quickly • Tweets from disaster survivors stuck in homes and other places • Sharing their location and coordinates. • Example: Online portal Kerala. Rescue. in was started to collect donations (to be sent to the CM Disaster Relief Fund), help enlist volunteers, record requests for help etc. Flooded with donations and details of volunteers.

Lesson 7: Community Empowerment • Building on the Community skills for Disaster Response • Fishermen across Kerala were engaged in flood rescue mission • 4537 fishermen, participated in the rescue operations, with 669 fishing boats • Rescued over 65, 000 trapped from various districts • Per diem payment to the fishermen engaged in rescue operations was refused saying that they helped their brethren in their hour of need. • Linking it with Aapda Mitra Scheme