What Is This Campaign About?

Flood vulnerability (Source: Taranjot Kaur
Gadhok, Senior Fellow, HSMI (HUSDCO), New Delhi)
The city has been experiencing floods of various
magnitudes in the past due to floods in the Yamuna
and the Najafgarh Drain system. The Yamuna
crossed its danger level (fixed at 204.83m) twenty
five times during the last 33 years. Since 1900, Delhi
has experienced six major floods in the years 1924,
1947, 1976, 1978, 1988 and 1995 when peak level
of Yamuna river was one meter or more above
danger level of 204.49m at old rail bridge (2.66m
above the danger level) occurred on 6 September
1978. The second record peak of 206.92m was on
27 September 1988.
In the recent past, the city experienced high
magnitude floods in 1977, 1978, 1988 and 1995,
causing misery and loss of life and property to the
residents of the city.
Settlment pattern in flood plain
A close analysis of the flood zoning pattern reveals
that the high risk zones are the areas that have
earlier been identified as unplanned or poorly
planned areas having high population densities and
sub standard housing structures. These include
areas of North Delhi, and Trans Yamuna. Some
of the colonies that have come up in these
areas are at levels 3 to 4 meters below the
1978 flood level.
Risk of break in embankments
Protection from the river by embankments lead
to a false sense of safety and development
starts taking place in the shadow of these
embankments. In the event of failure of these
protective works, as has been seen in the form of
breaches during past floods, the effect is devastating
because the pressure of the entire embanked
stretch is released at one point, and it takes the
people by surprise.
European River (Thames or Seine) Model is No
Panacea for River Yamuna
Raw sewage floods River Thames
(Source:www.smh.au/articles)
August 6, 2004
Environment authorities have mounted a major
cleanup operation in London after Tuesday’s
flooding forced hundreds of thousands of tonnes
of raw sewage into the River Thames running
through central London.
The Environment Agency said 600,000 tonnes
of untreated sewage overflowed into the river
as London’s Victorian-era sewers were
overwhelmed by torrential rains that brought
chaos to parts of the city on Tuesday night.
“The overflow has to go somewhere, and the
Thames is the natural place,” a spokeswoman
told Reuters on Wednesday.
Flood scenario in Seine
(Source: Pierre-Alain Roche, 2005)
Studies conducted in the 1990s gave the authorities
an initial warning by estimating the damage from a
flood comparable to that of 1910 at 4.6 billion euros
(1990 scenario). These same studies also estimated
that the disruption caused by a rise in the level of
the Seine equal to that reached during the 1910
flood would affect:
· 70% of metro traffic for 30 to 50 days;
· 50% of RER traffic for 30 to 50 days;
· over 200 000 electricity subscribers;
· over 1 million telephone subscribers;
· around 100 000 gas subscribers;
· 5 household waste processing plants;
· 5 district heating plants;
· 50% of drinking water supplies.
The most recent estimates have raised this figure
to 12 billion euros. The reason for this increase is
that in addition to direct damage there are also the
costs resulting from the loss or disruption of a large
number of public services. The failure of an EDF
transformer affects a much larger area than the area
actually flooded; the same is true of all utility
networks (telecommunications, district heating,
drinking water, drains and sewers, etc. and
obviously, transport networks too ). Like a house
What Is This Campaign About?
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