CHENNAI: United Nations Development Programme is supporting 10 Indian cities on Climate Risk Management in urban areas and has helped prepare city disaster management plans, according to G Padmanabhan, emergency analyst at UNDP.
Talking to Express on the sidelines of a workshop on Getting Airports Ready for Disaster, he said that UNDP has completed the vulnerability assessment of Madurai, which features among the 10 cities.
“We have prepared the City Diasaster Management Plan for madurai. It focusses on how the city is prepared for response during the natural disaster. The focus is on disaster risk reduction in sectors like education and health, he said.
Interestingly, UNDP is planning to replicate the model in other Indian cities with the help of Union ministry of Urban Development.
Talking about what went wrong during Chennai Floods, the expert said that disaster management during urban flooding needs more work.
“Floods in urban areas is a major issue now. Due to development there is very little water that be absorbed by ground. Since the water can’t percolate, it flows into drains which is already clogged. This causes floods. More and more cities are vulnerable to floods now,” he warned.
Interestingly, UNDP along with experts in other fields is helping prepare a standard operating procedure for Chennai airport during the disaster.
“During the natural calamity, lot of logistics support is required. We are trying to come out with an action plan to make the airport good enough to cover any logistics challenge,” said Chris Weekes, director of Humanitarian Affairs DHL Express.