A new paradigm of disaster management

Dam-induced flash floods and large excess rainfall over a short period aggravating the flood situation in Assam have become the new normal of natural disasters in the state. Rapidly changing situations are expected if one takes into account various assessment reports on climate change impacts by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Updating flood management and mitigation measures in the state in tune with the changing nature of hazards and disaster risk is critical to building the resilience of communities. A timely alert by the state government about the release of excess water from the Kurichu hydropower dam in Bhutan helped the authorities shift people living in vulnerable areas on the floodplains of the Beki and Manas rivers, two major northern tributaries of the Brahmaputra, to safer locations. With more hydropower projects coming up in Bhutan’s hills, the state needs better preparation for the release of excess water from multiple dams simultaneously in the future. An improvement in the flood early warning system to handle any unprecedented situation needs a policy push. This requires a departure from the current practise of focusing preparedness with respect to the highest flood level in the past and building capacity for worse situations predicted or projected by experts or indicated by scientific studies. The central and state governments providing more financial support to the Assam State Disaster Management Authorities to undertake studies in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and various universities, involving local, national, and international experts, can help evolve pragmatic solutions for disaster risk reduction. Assam’s government is impressing upon the central government to expedite the formation of the North East Water Management Authority, which is critical to addressing the situation arising from mitigating aggravating flood situations owing to the release of excess water from dams in Arunachal Pradesh or from Bhutan hills as well as dams in the state. The draft North East Water Management Authority (NEWMA) Bill, 2023, proposes that the Chief Ministers of all member States of the Brahmaputra basin will be part of the Governing Council of the authority under the chairmanship of Union Minister Jal Shakti. Such a mechanism will help Assam improve coordination with the neighbouring state and push for collaborative efforts for flood management at the basin level. Without active and legally binding cooperation from other states, it is not possible for Assam to address, in silos, the downstream impact of aggravating flood situations in upstream areas of the basin caused by large excess rainfall due to climate change impacts. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources, while recommending early passage of the NEWMA Bill 2023 by the parliament, observed that “unlike its predecessor organisation, i.e., the Brahmaputra Board, which was basically a single discipline body for flood control, the NEWMA will be a multi-disciplinary body that will also look after other water bodies, viz., lakes, etc., and their relationship with the Brahmaputra and Barak basin as an integrated unit.” Even if total annual or seasonal rainfall is less than normal, large amounts of excess rainfall over a short period during the monsoon season leave a trail of devastation not seen or experienced in the past. Deposition of sand on vast stretches of flood areas has rendered fertile land in several districts of the state barren and unsuitable for cultivation, affecting farm production and also reducing productivity. Farmers’ households ravaged by multiple waves of catastrophic floods do not have enough capital to de-silt their paddy fields and need government assistance to restore cultivation and boost production to the pre-flood level. The state government’s impressing upon the central government to take up with the Bhutan government the issues of cumulative downstream impact in areas bordering Bhutan of hydropower dams in the upstream areas of the Brahmaputra river basin will also help it seek more funding from the National Disaster Response Fund for disaster response. Such measures include raising and strengthening flood embankments, improving flood early warning systems, construction of adequate shelters, post-flood relief and rehabilitation, the introduction of flood-resistant crop varieties to build farmers resilience, etc. Most of the embankments in the state have outlived their span, and yearly repair of the breaches does not prevent the occurrence of breaches at new and multiple locations of these embankments. Phase-wise reconstruction of the embankments for longer durability, along with flood plain zoning, is essential to prevent breaches and recurrent submergence of homesteads and farmlands. Planning and execution of such work need to be undertaken for the maximum period of dry seasons and not just three or four months ahead of the rainy season. Smooth fund flow for such projects will require timely and judicious utilisation of the released funds and the submission of utilisation certificates to the funding agencies immediately after execution. The challenge for Assam is to build capacity for flood mitigation and disaster risk reduction instead of attributing aggravating situations to extreme weather conditions or the release of excess dam water.